Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Man cuffed but not charged after Chiefs Super Bowl Rally shooting sues 3 more lawmakers over posts

A man who was briefly handcuffed but not charged in the shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl rally is suing three more lawmakers over social media posts falsely accusing him of being among the shooters and an immigrant in the country illegally

Heather Hollingsworth
Wednesday 03 April 2024 22:29 BST
Chiefs Parade Shooting Lawsuit
Chiefs Parade Shooting Lawsuit (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Your support helps us to tell the story

This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.

The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.

Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.

A man who was briefly handcuffed but not charged in the shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl rally is suing three more lawmakers over social media posts falsely accusing him of being among the shooters and an immigrant in the country illegally.

Denton Loudermill Jr. of Olathe, Kansas, filed the nearly identical federal lawsuits Tuesday against three Republican Missouri state senators: Rick Brattin of Harrisonville, Denny Hoskins of Warrensburg and Nick Schroer of St. Charles County.

The complaints say Loudermill suffered “humiliation, embarrassment, insult, and inconvenience" over the “highly offensive” posts.

Loudermill made similar allegations last week in a lawsuit filed against U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett, a Republican from Tennessee.

Schroer and Hoskins declined to comment, and Brattin did not immediately respond to a text message Wednesday seeking comment. A spokeswoman for Burchett said last week that the congressman's office does not discuss pending litigation.

The Feb. 14 shooting outside the historic Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri, killed a well-known DJ and injured more than 20 others, many of them children.

Loudermill, who was never cited or arrested in the shooting, is seeking at least $75,000 in damages in each of the suits.

According to the suits, Loudermill froze for so long after gunfire erupted that police had time to put up crime scene tape. As he tried to go under the tape to leave, officers stopped him and told him he was moving “too slow.”

They handcuffed him and put him on a curb, where people began taking pictures and posting them on social media. Loudermill ultimately was led away from the area and told he was free to go.

But posts soon began appearing on the lawmakers' accounts on X, formerly known as Twitter, that included a picture of Loudermill and called him an “illegal alien” and a “shooter,” the suits said.

Loudermill, who was born and raised in the U.S., received death threats even though he had no involvement in the shooting, according to the complaints.

The litigation described him as a “contributing member of his African-American family, a family with deep and long roots in his Kansas community.”

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in