Story highlights
- Suspect Kyle Odom is arrested at the White House
- Tim Remington was found with multiple gunshot wounds
- Police say Odom sent letter and flash drives to his parents and the media
(CNN)The Secret Service arrested a suspect in the shooting of an Idaho pastor after the man threw several objects over the White House fence, authorities said.
Kyle Andrew Odom, 30, was taken into custody without incident Tuesday night in Washington, Coeur d'Alene Police Chief Lee White said.
He threw some flash drives and other unknown items over the fence, Lee said. Hazmat and bomb teams are working to identify those items, he said.
Odom is suspected of shooting Pastor Tim Remington on Sunday, a day after he led the prayer at a weekend campaign rally for Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz.
The pastor was found Sunday afternoon in the parking lot of the Altar Church in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. He had several gunshot wounds but is expected to survive.
The shooting was "a preplanned attack," Couer d'Alene Police said. But the motive is still unclear.
Suspect flew from Idaho
After the shooting, Odom flew from Boise, Idaho, to Washington, despite a felony warrant, White said.
"As soon as he was identified ... we put a warrant in the system in our national database for attempted first degree murder," White said.
"As far as the inner workings of the TSA and how someone with a felony warrant could board an airplane, I'm not the person to answer that."
White said information on the suspect's travel plans is still preliminary. But his car was found in Boise and secured by law enforcement officials.
Letters and manifesto
In addition to letters, the suspect left behind writings that included the names of the pastor shot and several lawmakers.
"There were a number of people listed in that manifesto. There were a number of U.S. senators and House representatives, along with some Israeli government officials," White said.
White said their review of evidence had revealed some disturbing details on the suspect, and they took the list of names seriously.
"It was extensive, and it was disturbing to us," he said. "We took this very seriously."
A Facebook post attributed to the suspect by the Spokane Spokesman-Review newspaper also revealed a disturbing message.
In it, he says the world is ruled by "an ancient civilization from Mars," describing the Remington as "one of them." He says he has no time to share his story but will do so in future.
"Pastor Tim was one of them, and he was the reason my life was ruined," the Facebook post connected to Odom said. "I will be sharing my story with as many people as possible."
White said while he cannot "definitively" say those are the suspect's posts, the information is consistent with what they found on his flash drives.
Letter to parents
Odom had sent a letter to his parents along with a flash drive containing multiple electronic documents, authorities said.
Some media members also received copies of the letter and similar flash drives.
Those documents show Odom planned to attack Remington and another church member, Detective Jared Reneau said in a statement.
Police declined to comment on the content of the letter or flash drive files.
Remington delivered the invocation at a rally for Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz on Saturday, but police say they have not found any information indicating the shooting was politically motivated.
"We've been waiting for somebody who represented God for a long time," Remington said at the rally. "We are here to pray that God's will be done."
The youth pastor at Altar Church told KREM that doctors have said Remington was very lucky to survive the attack.
"We know it's not luck; it was totally God," the pastor said. "It's a miracle."
credit cnn.com
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