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By Giulia Carbonaro
Senior Reporter
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Representative Tim Burchett of Tennessee, a Republican, has come under fire after falsely claiming on social media that one of the shooters at the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl celebration parade last week was "an illegal alien."
In a post published on Thursday on X, formerly known as Twitter, Burchett shared the image of a man sitting down in front of police caution tape at Union Station in Kansas City, flanked by two officers. While the man was not one of the shooters, Burchett mistakenly identified him as one of the two gunmen who opened fire at the parade, writing: "One of the Kansas City Chiefs victory parade shooters has been identified as an illegal Alien."
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Two teenagers have been charged by police for the shooting at the parade that left one dead and several injured. While the juveniles' ages and identities have not been released, police confirmed that the victim was Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a local DJ and mother of two. The shooting is considered to have started after an argument between the teenagers.
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Burchett's claim on X has been corrected on the social media platform, where readers have added context specifying the individual in the picture was not one of the shooters. A fact-check by Reuters mentions local reports saying that the individual in the picture was arrested for drunkenness at the parade and later released.
It's unclear where Burchett got the false information that the man in the photo—taken by an AFP photographer—was a suspect in the parade shooting, but the image circulated widely on social media in the day following the tragedy with the claim the individual was involved in the violence. Other posts on X and Facebook shared the photo claiming the man, whom they call "Sahil Omar", was "an illegal immigrant" involved in the shooting.
Police confirmed they never named an Omar as a suspect, nor did they name any of the people they arrested in connection with the shooting. The photo from the AFP photographer, available on several agencies, does not name the individual.
Newsweek contacted Burchett's Washington office for comment by phone early on Monday, outside of standard working hours, and left a voice note.
It's not uncommon for Burchett to share on his social media profiles news reports on shootings and crimes involving illegal immigrants. Since posting the false claim on the Kansas City parade shooting, the Tennessee Republican shared three such articles indicating illegal migrants as suspects of violent crimes. As a comment to one of them, he wrote: "It never ends. #illegals."
But having shared false information on the Kansas City parade shooting has exposed the Republican to the anger of many on social media, who accused him of "flat out" lying "to promote racism."
"You are a sitting U.S. congressman. Your job is to tell the truth to the American people, but yet you provided zero sources and flat out lied in order to promote racism," wrote an X user. "This is what was reported by KC authorities today. Which one of the two 'youths' is the picture above?"
Brian Carniello, a 2024 Democratic Candidate for Tennessee's State House District 14, wrote, asking: "Is Burchett circulating disinformation?"
Many wondered why the congressman kept the post up despite his claim being proven false, with some writing that Burchett can expect to be sued.
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