Coeur d’Alene pastor shot in head could be released within a week

Police continued to search Monday for the former Marine they believe shot a Coeur d’Alene pastor six times outside his church Sunday afternoon, including in the head and lung.

Pastor Tim Remington of Altar Church is in fair condition at Kootenai Health. He is expected to recover and be released within a week, John Padula, the church’s outreach pastor, said Monday morning.

“They said that the surgeries and everything went absolutely amazing,” Padula told The Spokesman-Review. “He came out of surgery late last night. He’s still sedated and they plan on keeping him sedated all day today because of the amount of pain he’ll be in when he wakes up.”

A prayer service for Remington is planned for 6 p.m. Monday at Candlelight Christian Fellowship, 5725 N. Pioneer Drive, in Coeur d’Alene.

“We want to take some videos and show him when he wakes up, just how the community came together,” Padula said.

The suspected shooter, 30-year-old Kyle Andrew Odom, of Coeur d’Alene, fled the scene in a silver 2004 Honda Accord with Idaho license plate K578519, police said. Odom has blond hair and blue eyes, is 6 feet tall and weighs about 170 pounds.

He is considered armed and dangerous, police said. Anyone who knows his location is asked to call 911.

Odom is a 2004 Lake City High School graduate. His resume says Odom was a flight equipment technician in the Marine Corps from 2006 to 2010 and that he was awarded an Iraq Campaign Medal and a Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, among other commendations.

He also studied at the University of Idaho from 2011 to 2014 and received a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry, his resume states.

Police are in contact with Odom’s family members, who are cooperating with the investigation, Coeur d’Alene police spokesman Det. Jared Reneau said.

The family released this statement Monday: “Our family is devastated by Sunday’s events. We are praying for Pastor Tim, his family and his continued recovery. We are also praying for Kyle’s safe return and to get the help he needs. We love you Kyle!”

Remington, 55, was shot the day after he prayed with presidential hopeful Ted Cruz at a campaign rally in Coeur d’Alene and gave the invocation at the start of the event, attended by around 3,000 people at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds.

The suspect was inside the church during morning services Sunday, said Padula, who viewed footage from a security camera that captured the shooting.

The man “kind of wandered around,” then went outside and waited in his car for about 10 minutes before Remington left the church around 2 p.m. Sunday, Padula said.

Remington opened his car door, and the shooter walked up behind him “and just started shooting him in the back,” he said.

“We pray for his full recovery and are thankful for the efforts of law enforcement to ensure the attacker is swiftly brought to justice,” the Cruz campaign said in a statement Monday.

Remington has spent years building a faith-based recovery program for drug addicts and alcoholics, and he has counseled jail inmates. He has been threatened several times by addicts he tried to help through his faith-based recovery program, Padula said.

This story was originally published March 7, 2016 at 7:25 AM with the headline "Coeur d’Alene pastor shot in head could be released within a week."