COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho – A bizarre 43-page manifesto that Kyle Odom left behind is shedding new light on why he may have targeted Pastor Tim Remington.
Odom is accused of shooting Remington after services at the Altar Church in Coeur d’Alene on Sunday. Remington remains in stable condition at Kootenai Health. Odom was captured in Washington D.C. on Tuesday evening by United States Secret Service. Officials said Odom threw objects over the White House fence before he was arrested.
The document he left behind is helping police understand why he was planning to target another pastor at the church. That pastor’s name in John Padula. Initially, church staff said Odom was not associated with their outreach programs or anyone from the church. But, Padula told KREM 2 News he just realized Wednesday morning that he had in fact texted and spoken on the phone with Odom before the shooting. Pastor Padula believes his contact with Odom happened by mistake.
“I just went through my phone and I have him saved as Kyle wrong number in my phone cause I send out scripture everyday to 300 people,” said Padula.
Padula said he sends out a mass text daily to encourage people with Bible verses. Somehow Kyle Odom's number ended up on his text list.
“He must have got a new phone number and it must've been one of my old friend's phone numbers that I was sending scripture to cause I send it out every day and he started getting those text messages and was like hey who is this? So I called him and we started talking and building a relationship with him and I just realized today that's who that was,” said Padula.
Padula showed KREM 2’s Lindsay Nadrich his contact list. One contact listed as “Kyle wrong number” belonged to Odom. In Odom’s manifesto he said he bought a TracFone. He wrote, “I checked it every day to see if anyone messaged or called. About a month later, I got a text message from a man named John Padula. He invited me to come to church at The Altar."
“I just read through my text messages to that Kyle and we were supposed to meet for coffee and we were supposed to meet here at the church and it never worked out to where we were able to meet,” said Padula.
Pastor Padula's name is mentioned several times in Odom's manifesto. Police believe Padula was Odom's second target. Padula said he found out he was possibly in danger Tuesday morning. He said officers watched over he and his family until the moment Odom was arrested.
“I was told that yesterday, and ended up sitting, I love our police force, the detectives and the SWAT that we've been working with and have been working this case have been absolutely amazing,” said Padula. “They kept my family safe just in case even though their might not have been any real immediate danger they were there just in case.”
News that Odom was safely arrested came as a relief on many levels.
“Absolutely amazing, I heard from Kyle's family right after that and they're so relieved they're amazing people everybody was calling and texting saying thank you Jesus, everyone so excited he was apprehended safely that was their biggest concern,” he said.
Pastor Padula said through all of this everyone is still praying for Odom. He also told me he was able to visit Pastor Tim in the hospital Tuesday and said he was awake and talking. He said one of the bullets went through Pastor Tim's skull but got to the soft tissue in his head and stopped. Friends and family firmly believe God stopped the bullet from going any farther and say it is a miracle he is still alive.