FROM The Tampa Bay Times:

In the days after the nightclub attack, news gatherers across the country who requested documents about the shooter and the police response, and have been told many of those records -— even those created years before the killings — are confidential because they are part of an official investigation.

Pat Gleason, special counsel for open government in the Florida Attorney General’s Office, said the documents are a public record.

“Can an agency withhold information simply because another agency asked them to?” she asked. “The answer to that is no.”

The Tampa Bay Times, for instance, asked the Department of Agriculture for information about Mateen’s security guard license, which he obtained almost a decade ago. A spokeswoman at the agriculture department says the FBI and Florida Department of Law Enforcement must authorize the information’s release.

The Times also reached out to the Fort Pierce Police Department asking for all cases in which Mateen, his relatives and others were named as a suspect, victim or witness. In response to this routine request, the agency refused and said the documents are part of an active criminal investigation.

Two dozen media outlets have asked the Orlando Police Department for 911 calls and radio communications. The city will not release these communications.

An attorney for those outlets sent a letter to the city on Tuesday, explaining that the records should not be exempt from disclosure.

“Even in critical and challenging times, transparency is important,” wrote attorney Rachel Fugate. “It helps the citizens of Orlando and the state of Florida and people throughout the United States have a better understanding of what transpired and try to come to grasp with this horrific and unimaginable tragedy.”

This is similar to what occurred after Sandy Hook, when death certificates and other basic records about the shooting were denied to journalists.

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