Man falsely accused in Kansas City Chiefs rally shooting sues Missouri GOP lawmakers

A Kansas man is suing three Missouri lawmakers for sharing social media posts falsely accusing him of being an undocumented immigrant and a shooter in the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade shooting.

Denton Loudermill, a Johnson County resident, filed the three lawsuits in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas against Sen. Rick Brattin of Harrisonville, Sen. Denny Hoskins of Warrensburg and Sen. Nick Schroer of St. Charles County.

The federal lawsuit alleges that the three Republican state senators each shared social media posts falsely claiming that Loudermill was an “illegal alien” and a shooter in the February shooting that killed one person and injured more than 20.

Tuesday’s lawsuits are the latest legal action filed by Loudermill related to an onslaught of false social media posts after the shooting. He filed a similar lawsuit against U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett, a Tennessee Republican, last week.

The Missouri lawmakers’ posts caused Loudermill to receive death threats, incur damages totaling more than $75,000, anxiety and loss of sleep, according to the lawsuits, which accuse them of false light invasion of privacy. The lawsuits ask a judge to issue damages “to punish” or deter the senators and others from similar conduct in the future.

Loudermilll’s lead attorney in the case is longtime Kansas City civil rights lawyer Arthur Benson.

“Mr. Loudermill‘s team of lawyers has filed these related complaints as our next steps toward justice for Mr. Loudermill,” Benson said in a statement on Tuesday.

Hoskins declined comment when reached by phone. Schroer told The Star at the Missouri Capitol that he had not been served the lawsuit. Brattin did not return a call for comment.

The lawsuits come after the false posts from Burchett and the Missouri lawmakers sparked a social media firestorm in the wake of the shooting. The three senators each promoted photos of Loudermill on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“Defendant knew or should have known that his inflammatory post on social media would be seen and read widely,” said each of the nearly identical lawsuits against the Missouri senators. “Defendant’s post was quickly seen by thousands of viewers.”

Tuesday’s lawsuits — as well as the lawsuit against Burchett — make clear that Loudermill, a Black Olathe native, is not an undocumented immigrant and was not involved in the mass shooting.

The shooting stemmed from a dispute between two groups that erupted into gunfire.

Brattin, Hoskins and Schroer are members of the hard-right Missouri Freedom Caucus in the Missouri Senate.

During a February news conference in Jefferson City, Brattin told The Star that he had not apologized to Loudermill and signaled that he did not think his false post was worth an apology.

“There’s nothing that I even see – even worth that,” he said. “So we’ve done nothing. And, you know, I have no comment.”

He also refused to comment on whether he was worried about a potential lawsuit regarding his false post.