Denton “Denny” Loudermill, the Kansas man who was erroneously accused of being the shooter at the Kansas City Chiefs’ victory parade, has filed a defamation suit against Tennessee U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Knoxville.
It has come to my attention that in one of my previous posts, one of the shooters was identified as an illegal alien. This was based on multiple, incorrect news reports stating that. I have removed the post. pic.twitter.com/11KlFIyvF9
— Tim Burchett (@timburchett) February 19, 2024
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Kansas, alleges Burchett shared photos of Loudermill on his personal social media account saying he was one of the shooters and referring to him as an “illegal alien.”
Loudermill, a native of Olathe, Kansas, attended the parade celebrating the Chiefs’ Super Bowl win. An argument broke out during the parade and ended in the shooting, which killed one person and wounded more than 20 people.
Loudermill’s lawsuit states that he attended the parade and was detained by police following the shooting for “moving too slow” as law enforcement was clearing the area. As he sat on a curb in handcuffs, people took photos of him and shared them on social media, according to the complaint.
Police did not charge Loudermill with any crime.
Burchett later deleted the tweet but included a screenshot of it that is still visible in a separate post.
Attorneys for Loudermill allege he has received death threats as a result of Burchett’s post on X, formerly known as Twitter, and are asking $75,000 in damages for acts considered “willful, wanton, reckless and malicious.”
A spokesman for Burchett said: “Our office is not able to comment on pending or active litigation.”
In February, Loudermill told The Independent that “sometimes I’m afraid to go outside of my house or think that somebody who’s going to come into my house because some people probably don’t even see that I was innocent.”
Loudermill’s lawsuit did not include several members of the Missouri Senate Freedom Caucus, who also helped spread incorrect information about Loudermill and the mass shooting on social media.
Asked about the possibility of future defamation litigation against other public officials, LaRonna Lassiter Saunders, an attorney working as Loudermill’s legal advocate, said in an email to The Independent: “We are just getting started.”
This story was originally published by the Tennessee Lookout, part of the States Newsroom. The Missouri Independent’s Rudi Keller contributed to this story.
