Latest news with #LassiterSaunders
Yahoo
13-04-2025
- Yahoo
Man falsely accused of shooting at Chiefs Super Bowl parade dead at 49
A man who was falsely accused of firing gunshots at the Chiefs' Super Bowl parade in February 2024 has died, his attorney said in a statement released Friday on social media. The Associated Press confirmed Denton Loudermill Jr.'s passing. No cause of death was provided. He was 49. 'More details will be provided in time,' attorney LaRonna Lassiter Saunders said, 'but for now, we ask that you honor the family's need for privacy as they come together to grieve this tremendous loss.' Loudermill of Olathe, Kan., was briefly handcuffed during the chaos on Feb. 14, 2024, but never charged in relation to the shooting that left one dead and more than 20 others injured. Loudermill subsequently filed lawsuits against three Missouri state senators and a Tennessee congressman who shared social media posts incorrectly implicating him in the shooting outside of Union Station in Kansas City. The suits were dismissed by the courts. Three men were charged with murder after the shooting, which authorities said stemmed from a dispute between two groups of people. Others faced lesser charges. Lassiter Saunders said she will continue the fight to clear Loudermill's name posthumously. Loudermill, a United States citizen since birth, worked at a local car wash. 'While the family takes this time to mourn, we want to make it clear that this is not over,' Lassiter Sanders said. 'Mr. Loudermill should not have spent his final days burdened with stress and chasing down a lie that went viral due to the careless and heartless actions of a Congressman, Missouri senators, and social media influencers who couldn't be bothered to verify the truth before destroying a man's life.' Loudermill's lawsuits claimed that he froze in the middle of the post-shooting chaos and was handcuffed for moving 'too slow' as police cleared the scene. As he sat handcuffed on the curb, people began taking photos and posting them to social media, where he was described as an 'illegal alien' and a 'shooter.' 'If you thought we were determined before,' Lassiter Saunders said, 'you haven't seen anything yet!'
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Olathe man falsely connected to Chiefs parade shooting has died, his attorneys say
An Olathe man who was falsely identified as a shooter at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade last year has died, his attorneys said. Arthur Benson and LaRonna Lassiter Saunders, attorneys for Denton Loudermill, who in recent months have filed a series of lawsuits over social media comments that erroneously connected Loudermill to the shooting, said in emails to The Star that their client died Friday. The circumstances of Loudermill's death were not known Friday evening. A photo of Loudermill with Kansas City police following the February 2024 parade shooting thrust him into the public eye, and the lawsuits came as Loudermill sought to clear his name. Posts from the Missouri Freedom Caucus, U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee, and Donald Trump Jr. falsely cast Loudermill as being connected to the shooting. Most recently, his attorneys had filed lawsuits in U.S. District Court in February against former Missouri state senator and current Secretary of State Denny Hoskins and state Sen. Rick Brattin over social media posts the lawsuits claims they had made on X, formerly Twitter, amplifying a post that falsely identified Loudermill as a parade shooter and an illegal immigrant. Loudermill was at the rally and was briefly detained by police after shots rang out. Officers stopped him and told him he was moving 'too slow,' his attorneys wrote in court documents. He was eventually released, but a photo taken during the 10 minutes he had been handcuffed and seated on the curb was shared on social media, they said. Loudermill's attorneys said his family intends to continue the litigation by substituting an estate as plaintiff. 'More details will be provided in time, but for now, we ask that you honor the family's need for privacy as they come together to grieve this tremendous loss,' Lassiter Saunders wrote. 'While the family takes this time to mourn, we want to make it clear that this is not over.' The lawsuits filed in February cite a pair of allegations against Hoskins and Brattin: False light invasion of privacy and libel per se. Said Lassiter Saunders: 'Mr. Loudermill should not have spent his final days burdened with stress and chasing down a lie that went viral due to the careless and heartless actions of a Congressman, Missouri senators, and social media influencers, who couldn't be bothered to verify the truth before destroying a man's life. If you thought we were determined before, you haven't seen anything yet!'
