Pastor gunned down

COEUR d’ALENE ­— The minister who delivered Ted Cruz’s invocation during a presidential rally Saturday in Coeur d’Alene was shot multiple times in the parking lot of his church Sunday afternoon.

Late Sunday night, Coeur d’Alene Police identified the suspect as Kyle Andrew Odom, 30, of Coeur d’Alene.

Police describe him as a white male with blonde hair and blue eyes. He is 6 feet tall and weighs approximately 170 pounds.

Odom is believed to be driving a 2004 silver Honda Accord with Idaho license plate K578519. Anyone with information concerning Odom’s whereabouts is urged to call 911.

The pastor’s condition at Kootenai Health was listed as critical, but The Press received unofficial reports Sunday night that the wounds were not life-threatening.

Ron Nilson, a longtime friend of Remington’s who has worked on numerous projects with the pastor helping drug and alcohol addicts and people with criminal pasts, said family members told him Remington had been shot six times, from the head down to his pelvic area.

“Surgeons told the family they had never seen anything like this where somebody lived,” Nilson told The Press on Sunday night. “He’s going to live — he’s going to walk and talk and serve the community again. The surgeons said it was a miracle.”

Police said the shooting occurred just before 2 p.m. Sunday at the church on Ninth Street and Best Avenue. Police Chief Lee White said initial reports indicate that a white male shot Remington several times, then fled the scene in a vehicle.

John Padula, outreach pastor for the church, said he had left the church after services and had just gotten home when he received a call that Remington had been shot. He said he watched the church security video and the suspect had been in the church throughout the morning service.

“He got in his car right before Pastor Tim got out(side), and laid down,” Padula said. “As soon as Pastor Tim came out and was getting in his car, he stepped out and shot him in the back four or five times.”

Daren Feliksiak, who lives across the street from the church, witnessed the shooting but didn’t immediately realize what was happening.

“At first I thought it was fireworks but then I saw another person run and get behind a car, so I ducked behind my truck in my driveway,” Feliksiak told The Press. “It was 8 or 9 (shots). He just unloaded on him.”

Describing the scene as “surreal,” Feliksiak said the shooter was extremely calm.

“Once he was done shooting he just casually got in the car and drove away. He didn’t seem rushed or anything — he seemed very casual,” Feliksiak said. “You’d think if you just shot somebody, you’d be a little worked up. But he didn’t peel out and he didn’t look like he was driving crazy. He drove away like it was nothing.”

Police closed the area around the church, setting up evidence markers around Remington's car.

White said they did find some evidence at the scene but he could not release any more information about the evidence or the suspect. He said police were reviewing security video from the church that "will certainly help" with the investigation.

"We have a number of leads that we are following up on," White said. "We are hopeful to have a quick resolution of this case, but of course it's more important that we do it right than do it fast. Either way, we need to make sure that this individual is taken off the street as quickly as possible."

White said he could only speculate about motive and declined to do so.

With tears in his eyes, Padula, the outreach pastor, said he wished no harm to come to the man who shot Remington.

"God's in control," he said. "We're praying for the man and we don't love him any less than anybody else and we pray that he comes to know Jesus Christ as his lord and savior."

Padula said he had never seen the alleged shooter before Sunday morning's service. The man had wandered in and out of the church, he said, even changing his clothes in the middle of the service.

"It was definitely premeditated," Padula said.

He said Remington is a selfless man who lives for God and who had helped Padula himself get over a 17-year drug addiction.

Padula said that while he doesn't know who shot Remington or why, the pastor had been threatened several times throughout the years.

"We deal with people like myself, you know. I was a drug addict and that was my whole life, and sometimes when things don't go people's way they get angry and threaten and lie," he said. "But he's the most serving, kind, gentle, loving person I've ever met in my life."

He said Remington has three sons, a daughter and his wife, who had gone to the hospital to be with him.

Another witness, Joel Sailas of Coeur d'Alene, could see the parking lot of the church from his home on Tenth Street. He said he and his mother heard the shots, believing the noise to be fireworks at first.

"I looked out the window and saw smoke rising and I heard a car revving up its engine and take off," Sailas said. "I was wondering if it was exhaust from the car or smoke. I knew at that point there was something definitely wrong so I ran over there ... (Remington) was laying face down, curled in sort of a fetal position, but with his legs extended out and he had two or three bullet holes in his back."

Sailas said that as he had come around the pastor's car, he recognized Remington right away.

"He brought me to Christ," Sailas said. "He's helped me in my beginning commitments and he's left an impression in my life that's everlasting.”