KANSAS CITY, Mo. — An Olathe man who was wrongly identified in viral social media posts as a suspect in the Chiefs rally shooting has filed an invasion of privacy lawsuit against a Tennessee congressman.
In the lawsuit, Denton Loudermill accuses Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett of reposting false information identifying him as the "shooter" and an "illegal alien."
Loudermill was among the thousands who attended the parade celebrating the Chiefs' Super Bowl LVIII victory.
As the rally was wrapping up, gunfire rang out after an argument between two groups.
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The shooting left beloved mother and Kansas City DJ Lisa Lopez-Galvan dead and injured over 20 others.
During the chaos, an officer told Loudermill he was moving too slow and handcuffed him, placing Loudermill on a sidewalk curb.
People began taking photos of Loudermill and posting them on social media.
Some of the posts identified him as the shooter and an illegal immigrant.
Alleged screenshots from Burchett's personal "X" account are included in the lawsuit.
One of the posts was viewed 7.2 million times, liked over 176,000 times, quoted 515 times and reposted over 20,000 times.
Burchett later admitted to calling Loudermill an illegal alien, deleted the posts and blamed news reports.
"It has come to my attention that in one of my previous posts, one of the shooters was identified as an illegal alien," Burchett said in a social media post on Feb. 19, five days after the shooting. "This was based on multiple, incorrect news reports stating that. I have removed the post."
He didn't address falsely accusing Loudermill of being the shooter.
"The false identification of Plaintiff as an 'illegal alien' and 'shooter' has caused Plaintiff in Kansas to receive death threats and to suffer mental distress from having been exposed to public view and more specifically to experience periods of anxiety, agitation, and sleep disruption and such damages are likely to continue into the future," the lawsuit states.
Three men — Lyndell Mays, Dominic Miller and Terry J. Young — have been charged with murder and other gun crimes in the death of Lopez-Galvan as well as for their alleged roles in the gunfire.
Three teens have also been charged in connection to the shooting.
KSHB 41 has reached out to Burchett for comment on the lawsuit. This story will be updated if a response is received.
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