A man from Kansas is suing Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., because of social media posts that falsely said he was an undocumented immigrant and one of the shooters in last month’s deadly Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade.
Lawyers for Denton Loudermill Jr. filed the case in federal court in Kansas City, Kansas. They say that Loudermill lost more than $75,000 because of a “false representation” of him being on the Tennessee Republican’s personal X account.
The case says that the plaintiff was never a “alien,” a “illegal alien,” or a “shooter.” It also says that Defendant’s followers spread false claims that the plaintiff was any of these things.
An image of Loudermill was shared by Burchett on X in February. He called him “one of the Kansas City Chiefs victory parade shooters” and “an illegal alien.”
The claim says that the post went live on February 15 and was shared more than 21,000 times. By the morning of February 18, it had been seen 7.2 million times. Then Burchett took down the post and said in a new one that he had mistakenly called Loudermill an undocumented immigrant, but he still said that Loudermill was “one of the shooters.”
The case claims that the posts caused Loudermill mental distress and that he has received death threats as a result. It asks for a trial by jury and damages for spreading lies in violation of a Kansas privacy law.
A representative for Burchett did not reply right away to a request for comment on Monday night.
When asked if Loudermill was asking for a specific amount of money in damages, their lawyer wouldn’t say anything.
For cases like this one, where people from different states are suing each other for damages, the federal courts need more than $75,000 to hear them. The claim states that Loudermill lives in Olathe, Kansas.
The claim says Loudermill went to the Chiefs’ victory parade in Kansas City on February 14 and was photographed in handcuffs after getting caught in the middle of the chaos as police closed off the area after gunshots were fired. The claim says that even though he was freed and not arrested or charged with a crime, his picture started going around on social media and ended up on Burchett’s page.
It was last month that two men, Dominic M. Miller of Kansas City and Lyndell Mays of Raytown, were charged with second-degree murder, armed criminal action, and illegal use of a weapon in connection with the shooting that killed a woman and hurt more than 20 others. As part of the Friday killing, a third person, Terry J. Young, was charged. So far, no pleas have been made.
Prosecutors say that as of Thursday afternoon, three teens were being charged in family court.
Burchett is one of many Republicans who have spoken out against immigration ahead of this year’s election. Former President Donald Trump has made false claims about a crime wave in the US caused by immigrants, but Burchett has not.
Knoxville is in Burchett’s 2nd Congressional District, which is in Tennessee. He became mayor of Knox County for eight years and was a state lawmaker before taking office in January 2019. He won with 67.9% of the vote in 2022 and is running for office again this year.