Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) deleted a social media post that accused a man suspected of being one of the shooters at the Kansas City Chiefs parade of being an “illegal alien.”
In a previous post on X, the Tennessee congressman shared a photo of a man in a red jumpsuit and wrote that “one of the Kansas City Chiefs victory parade shooters has been identified as an illegal Alien.”
“It has come to my attention that in one of my previous posts, one of the shooters was identified as an illegal alien,” Burchett wrote a few days later on Monday. “This was based on multiple, incorrect news reports stating that. I have removed the post.”
The man in the jumpsuit was the victim of a viral online post and several subsequent rumors that claimed he was Sahil Omar, a 44-year-old illegal immigrant, and that he had been detained for the shooting. It was later revealed that this information was false, and the photographed man was Denton Loudermill, a Kansas City Chiefs fan who said he was detained for intoxication. He was released without charges or citations, according to the Kansas City Defender.
A community note on X, along with multiple local news outlets, blasted Burchett for blaming his post on news reports.
“Media did not report that Denton was a possible shooter, merely published a photo of him being detained,” a community note said, citing the Kansas City Defender article and Scripps News. “Social media posts, such as this one, falsely claimed he was a shooter and an illegal immigrant. He is neither.”
On Sunday, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) slammed Burchett for keeping the “slanderous” post on his page.
“A slanderous lie promoted by my colleague who is in a position to know better but has already proven time and again that he does not,” Crockett posted on X.
Many Kansas City reporters also criticized Burchett for promoting social media rumors as a news report. Jessica McMaster, senior investigative reporter for KSHB 41, slammed the congressman for not providing an apology for the post and for citing social media posts as a news report.
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Two juveniles have been charged with gun-related crimes and resisting arrest for the shooting at the Super Bowl championship rally on Feb. 9 that killed one woman and injured more than 20 others. The victims’ ages ranged from 8 years old to 47 years old, and Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves said around half of the victims were younger than 16.
The minors were not identified and they are being held at a juvenile detention center. The shooting does not have a “nexus of terrorism” or homegrown extremism, the police chief previously said.
