Tim Remington, the 55-year-old senior pastor of The Altar Church in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, was shot and critically wounded the day after giving the invocation at a rally for Senator Ted Cruz. (Christian Character Builders)
The pastor of an Idaho church was shot and critically wounded Sunday, just one day after giving the invocation at a rally for Texas Senator Ted Cruz.
Tim Remington, the 55-year-old senior pastor and founder of The Altar Church, was shot in the Coeur d’Alene church parking lot at about 2 p.m., the CDA Press reports. He is being treated at a local hospital and remained in critical condition at the trauma center Sunday night.
The suspect, identified as 30-year-old Kyle Andrew Odom, fled before officers arrived, police said.
Remington led the prayer Saturday at the Cruz presidential rally at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds. His family and friends say the pastor miraculously survived the shooting and is expected to be released from the hospital this week.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. He Was Shot 6 Times After Leaving the Church’s Service
Witnesses tell me pastor was getting into this car after service when he was shot 3 times in back
Pastor Tim Remington was shot six times as he left The Altar Church following Sunday services, the Spokesman Review reports.
While his injuries are serious, he is expected to make a full recovery, according to the newspaper.
“One of the bullets tried to enter the brain but stopped at the skull, one of the bullets busted his hip, one fractured his shoulder pretty bad, but he is and will continue to be alive and serving God!” Roger Crigger, a family friend, told the Spokesman Review.
John Padula, the church’s outreach minister, told the newspaper security footage shows the gunman wandering around outside while waiting for Remington to exit the church. He then walks up to him and begins shooting him in the back, Padula said. The suspect had been in the church during services.
2. He Gave the Invocation at a Ted Cruz Rally Attended by Thousands
On Saturday, the day before the shooting, Pastor Tim Remington gave the invocation at a rally for Texas Senator and Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds.
About 3,000 people attended the rally, KREM-TV reported.
You can watch his opening prayer below:
No motive for the shooting has been released and it is not clear that there is any connection between it and Remington’s support of Cruz.
3. He Is Married & Has 4 Children
Tim Remington, with his wife, Cindy. (The Altar Church)
Tim Remington married his wife, Cindy Remington, while living in California in the late 1970s, according to his biography on the church’s website.
The Remingtons have four children.
Family and friends gathered for prayer vigils Sunday at the shooting scene and the hospital, and later inside The Altar Church.
4. He Returned Home to Idaho After Working as a Street Minister in California
Prayer circle by Altar Church members for Pastor Tim Remington. They prayed for his recovery. #kxly
Remington graduated from Coeur d’Alene High School and then moved to California, where he became a pastor in Loma Linda, according to the church’s website.
He worked as a street minster in San Bernardino and Los Angeles.
“It was there they became interested in street ministry and the people that are typically ignored; those who have problems with drugs, alcohol, and perversion,” the website says. “In 1985 they began taking people into their home to help them. That has since grown into their Mentor Home Ministry and Good Samaritan Rehabilitation. The street ministry days, from San Bernardino to L.A., taught Tim more about drugs and alcohol than all the education he ever had. Since that time he received his degree in counseling. To Tim however, the degree is much less meaningful than actually leading an addict to Jesus.”
He and his wife moved back to Coeur d’Alene and began The Altar Church more than 18 years ago.
5. The Suspect in the Shooting Served in the Marines & Is From Coeur d’Alene
Kyle Andrew Odom is wanted as a suspect in the shooting. (Coeur d’Alene Police/Facebook)
The suspect in the shooting, Kyle Andrew Odom, 30, remains on the loose. According to NBC News, police describe him as being a little more than 6 feet tall. He has short curly blond hair, a slim build and was wearing glasses.
Investigators also released a photo of the vehicle Odom is suspected to have used to flee from the shooting, a silver Honda:
(Coeur d’Alene Police)
According to his Facebook page, Odom served in the Marines from 2006 to 2010, leaving as a corporal. He is from Coeur d’Alene and studied biochemistry at the University of Idaho.
In a Facebook post, police said Odom is to be “considered armed and dangerous.”
Police have not released a motive for the shooting, but Remington has received threats from those he has helped with issues in the past, according to church staff.