An Olathe man wants to clear his name after he was wrongly identified on social media as a suspect in Wednesday's mass shooting following the rally of the Chiefs' Super Bowl parade.
"I just want to clear my name that I had nothing to do with anything," said Denton Loudermill, a Chiefs fan and father from Olathe. "I was just enjoying myself like everybody else, but other than that, I was out there not to harm anybody. I was just enjoying the parade like everybody else."
A day of celebration turned into a day of heartache after a shooting broke out following the Chiefs Super Bowl rally. KKFI DJ Lisa Lopez-Galvan was killed and 22 others were injured.
"We want to offer our condolences to Ms. Lopez-Galvan and her family, and to the other 22 victims and their families that were impacted by this horrible tragedy," said LaRonna Lassiter Saunders, Loudermill's attorney. "They are living a true nightmare right now. The other person that would be living a nightmare would be Mr. Denton because he's the one accused of being the shooter at that event."
Loudermill addressed the public with Lassiter Saunders in a press conference posted to social media on Saturday.
@1lovely75 We are here with Mr. Denton, who was wrongly identified as the mass shooter at the KC Chief's Parade. On the contrary, he is a native of Olathe, Kansas, and loving father of three (3) daughters, and an avid Chief's fan. We would greatly appreciate your help to clear his name, and potentially save his life, as he has received numerous death threats over this misinformation. #truthandjustice #Chiefsfanwronglyaccused #Correctthelie #chiefskingdom ♬ original sound - Lovely
Lassiter Saunders said that after photos of Loudermill being detained on Feb. 14 circulated on social media, misinformation spread that Loudermill was a suspect in the mass shooting. She said that just because Loudermill was in handcuffs, that doesn't mean he did something wrong.
Loudermill had several drinks on Wednesday and was detained and walked "a couple of blocks" before he was released, according to Lassiter Saunders. She shared that he did not receive a citation and was not arrested.
Scripps News Kansas City contacted the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department on Sunday, asking if there was any information on Loudermill's detainment. The police department provided the following statement:
"There were many people detained at one time or another on Wednesday. Some of the detainments could result in future charges unrelated to the shooting. No one who is believed to be involved in the shooting has been released."
Lassiter Saunders said that she and Loudermill want attention to be focused on getting truth and justice for Lopez-Galvan and her family.
"We want to focus on how great of a person she was and not spend our time letting lies, and misinformation, and bigotry and hatred spread," she said.
This story was originally published by Jack Anstine at Scripps News Kansas City.
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