A U.S. congressman is being sued after falsely claiming that a Kansas man was identified as a shooter and an illegal immigrant following a rampage at a Super Bowl parade.
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) wrote in a Feb. 15 social media post that “one of the Kansas City Chiefs victory parade shooters has been identified as an illegal alien.” He included an image of Denton Loudermill Jr.
He was taken away from the area after about 10 minutes and freed by officers, according to the suit. He was never charged.
Mr. Loudermill is also not an illegal immigrant, the suit states. The false identification led to Mr. Loudermill receiving threats. He also suffered mental distress from being falsely identified as a shooter, according to the suit.
The suit claims that Mr. Burchett did not make the identification in good faith and that Mr. Burchett may have known that his representation was false.
“The defendant knew or should have known that his inflammatory post on social media would be seen and read nationwide, including in Kansas where the subject of his post was a resident,” lawyers for Mr. Loudermill wrote, noting that Mr. Burchett “caused the false representation to appear on thousands of cellular phones, computers, and other electronic devices in Kansas where those acts would cause damage.”
The lawyers said Mr. Loudermill suffered more than $75,000 in damages.
“The acts and conduct of defendant were willful, wanton, reckless, and malicious, and further, showed a complete and deliberate indifference to, and conscious disregard for, the rights of plaintiff,” the suit reads. “Therefore, plaintiff is entitled to an award of punitive or exemplary damages in an amount sufficient to punish defendant or deter defendant and others from like conduct in the future.”
The suit was filed in federal court in Kansas. Mr. Burchett’s office declined to comment to media outlets. He did not have a lawyer listed on the court docket.
Mr. Burchett, 59, has represented Tennessee’s Second Congressional District since 2019. Before that, he was mayor of Knox County, Tennessee.
Mr. Burchett’s post was viewed on social media platform X millions of times within days. On Feb. 18, Mr. Burchett partially retracted his claim.
“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 news reports stating that. I have removed the post,” he said.
No outlets appear to have reported that any of the shooters were illegal aliens or illegal immigrants.
Photographs of Mr. Loudermill in handcuffs were labeled by image providers such as Getty Images as showing a man who was detained after the parade shooting. The man was later released and “was not a suspect in the shooting,” one of the captions states.
Mr. Loudermill said he was a regular fan who wanted to take part in cheering the Chiefs’ victory.
“I’m a good young man. I’ve got three daughters and I love them a lot. I’m a family person, close to all my family,” he said. “Other than that, I try not to get myself into any trouble or anything like that. I was just out there trying to enjoy myself and enjoy the parade.”
