Seattle's democratic socialist mayor is facing fresh scrutiny over a deadly shooting in the heart of the city after police accused her of causing a five-hour delay in releasing public information.

At the Bite of Seattle festival near the Space Needle on July 26, a shootout between rival gang members around 6pm left three people dead, four more injured and caused thousands of attendees to run for their lives. 

Police say they were able to arrest one of the shooters within 30 seconds and soon secured the area, but the city remained gripped with fear for five hours as officials failed to release any information to the public until a press conference at 11pm. 

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson's office had blamed the city's police department for the delay, even dismissing Chief Shon Barnes with a $700,000 taxpayer-funded severance package. 

But in an update on Tuesday to the Seattle City Council's public safety committee, Assistant Chief Tyrone Davis and Interim Chief Andre Sayles offered a starkly different account of the reason for the public information delay, KOMO reported. 

Davis, who was the acting chief at the time of the shooting, told the council that he was ready to give a press conference at 7.30pm, about 90 minutes after shots first rang out. 

'We were ready to go,' Davis said, explaining that he had notified Deputy Mayor Brian Surratt of his intention to conduct a presser but was told not to speak with the media without Mayor Wilson present. 

It would take another three-and-a-half hours before Wilson spoke to reporters while flanked by Governor Bob Ferguson, Representative Pramila Jayapal and Davis. 

'What I shared in the 20-minute press conference at 11.00pm would have been the same exact information I would have provided at 7:30 - nothing changed,' Davis told the city council on Tuesday. 

'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.'

The public was only informed that the shooting was likely gang related and not a targeted attack, and that the Seattle Center campus was safe, during the severely delayed press conference. 

Wilson told reporters last week: 'My office owns that final delay between 9.45 and 10.45pm when the press conference ultimately took place.

'The public deserves clear, consistent communication in case of emergencies. A press conference with myself and other elected officials in no way should replace clear, consistent, informative communication throughout the night from SPD.'

But the Daily Mail received an evasive answer when reaching out to Wilson's office to ask if it disputes Davis's claim that the mayor's office was responsible for earlier delays.

'Right now, the mayor is focused on the important work of preventing these kinds of tragedies from happening again, and providing healing for the families of the victims and our city,' the statement said. 

'During emergencies, a goal is streamlined communication between the Mayor’s Office, and the Seattle Police Department, and the public. We’ve been clear and consistent that strengthening processes to meet that goal is a priority.'

'Last month Mayor Wilson and Interim Chief Sayles announced strengthened public safety communication practices for both the Mayor’s Office and the Seattle Police Department to ensure consistent, coordinated communication between the Mayor’s Office and SPD during any significant public safety event,' the statement added.  

An after action report presented to the City Council by Davis and Acting Chief Sayles on Tuesday praised the police department's swift detainment of one of the suspects and successful evacuation of festivalgoers. 

But it also determined that elected officials such as Wilson who arrived at the scene 'distracted sworn staff from completing timely public safety information and on-scene decision making.' 

It also found that budget constraints led to just seven supervisors and 25 to 29 officers covering the festival that thousands of people were attending. 

A 'lessons learned' section of the presentation said: 'Positioning officers close to the crowd, not just the perimeter, is almost certainly why the shooter was caught in 20–30 seconds.

'A strong tactical response does not automatically produce a fast public information response — the two need separate planning and resourcing.'