(The Center Square) - Mayor Katie Wilson’s office ordered Seattle police to delay press briefings on the Bite of Seattle festival mass shooting until the mayor arrived on scene, according to details revealed by police leadership Tuesday morning.

Seattle Assistant Police Chief Tyrone Davis told the city council's public safety committee that although officers took the shooter into custody in less than half a minute after the shooting on July 26, official information to the public was delayed for hours due to directives from the mayor's office.

Wilson's staff had first blamed the Seattle Police Department for the delay in public updates. Later, Wilson said her office was also responsible for the press conference delays.

Last week she issued new rules requiring quick dissemination of public information following major police events such as a mass shooting.

Messages recently released between police and city staff showed confusion as officials tried to schedule a media briefing.

Davis, who served as acting police chief during the incident, said Deputy Mayor Brian Surratt instructed him not to hold any press briefings until Wilson was on site.

While the shooting occurred around 6 p.m., police did not hold a press conference until about 11 p.m., around five hours after the meeting that killed three and injured four, including a toddler.

Davis noted that police leadership was prepared to brief the public at 7:30 p.m., about 90 minutes after the shooting occurred. He said he was preparing to handle the briefing and called Surratt as a courtesy to notify him, but Surratt told him they needed to wait for the mayor to arrive.

"I will tell you this right now, what I shared in the 20-minute press conference at 11 p.m. would have been the same exact information I would have provided at 7:30 - nothing changed," Davis said.

"That’s how stable the situation was. That’s how well run our officers were. That’s how well prepared Detective Pritchard and our media folks were."

Pritchard, a Seattle police public information officer, had told reporters on the scene that the press conference was being delayed because of arriving public officials.

The press conference also featured, besides Wilson, Governor Bob Ferguson and U.S. Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal. The governor and Jayapal have denied delaying the press conference.

Wilson's office did not respond Tuesday to requests for comment on Davis' comments regarding her office's role in delaying the press conference.

Wilson has received intense criticism from members of the City Council and community leaders for the lack of communication following the Bite of Seattle shooting.

The mayor asked former Police Chief Shon Barnes, who was out of town on the night of the shooting, to resign five days later.

"After careful consideration, the Mayor requested his resignation due to the need to build a cabinet that is aligned with her administration's values, policy goals, and vision for the Seattle Police Department,” said a letter the mayor's lawyer sent to the city council earlier this month explaining her reasoning.