A man allegedly shot a pastor in Idaho on Sunday, and two days later he was arrested at the White House after tossing objects over the fence.
The two incidents make a strange juxtaposition, and even police say the apparent motives of suspect Kyle Andrew Odom’s aren’t clear.
When authorities look to a lengthy letter allegedly written by the suspect, they see this: claims of Martians ruling the Earth, humans who wanted to make him their sex slave, and talk of people and helicopters following him.
Odom, the suspect in the Sunday shooting of Pastor Tim Remington outside a church in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, was taken into custody at the White House on Tuesday night.
He made his initial court appearance in Washington on Wednesday.
Wearing a bright green T-shirt, blue athletic shorts and athletic shoes, Odom requested an extradition hearing, which was scheduled for April 6. He is being held without bail. Odom faces charges of attempted homicide and attempted first-degree murder in the shooting of Remington, who is expected to survive.
CNN reached out to Odom’s public defender, Ieshaah Murphy, for comment but didn’t get an immediate reply.
Coeur d’Alene police Chief Lee White said that a review of evidence has revealed some disturbing details.
Odom’s letter
Authorities said a 32-page letter, in which the writer identifies himself as Odom, 30, was sent to his parents and media outlets, along with additional pages of school transcripts and U.S. Marine Corps discharge paperwork. In the letter, the writer claims that his life was ruined by amphibian-humanoids from Mars. Among the writings were sketches of alien-like faces.
Almost all of the letter, which was released Wednesday by the Coeur d’Alene Police Department, is typed. In the opening the writer says, “As you can see I am pretty smart. I’m also 100% sane, 0% crazy.”
The letter names Remington, and many others, in wild claims of an alien conspiracy. The letter writer says Remington first texted him Bible messages but then started threatening him through Bible verses he sent.
“I thought nothing of it until helicopters started flying around my house all day and all night,” the letter says.
The writer claims later that congregants at the Altar Church, where Remington was the pastor, told him they wanted him to be a sex slave.
The pastor was found Sunday afternoon in the parking lot of the church with several gunshot wounds.
One part of the letter appears to be a message to President Barack Obama, and another page lists “noteworthy Martians.” U.S. lawmakers and Israeli government officials are among those listed.
Near the end of the letter, the writer refers to taking some actions of last resort as a way to bring the public’s attention to “the Martians.”
“I hope something good comes of it,” the letter writer says. “Just realize that I’m a good person, and I’m completely innocent.”
The writer asked readers to understand the people he was targeting “are not what you think.”
Idaho shooting
Remington is doing well, but still experiencing a lot of pain, said Amanda Padula, the wife of outreach pastor John Padula. Amanda Padula visited Remington on Wednesday morning and said he was talking some and was worried about the rest of the congregation.
The shooting occurred a day after the pastor led the prayer at a weekend campaign rally for Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz.
“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.”
Police have not found any information indicating the shooting was politically motivated.
Still, Detective Jared Reneau of Coeur d’Alene police told CNN that investigators called U.S. Capitol Police in Washington because of his appearance at the Cruz rally, and not because of the long list of D.C. figures in the letter.
Odom’s arrest came after he threw flash drives and other unknown objects over the White House fence, police said.
Hazmat and bomb teams determined the items were nonhazardous, the Secret Service said.
Suspect allegedly 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 — about 380 miles from Coeur d’Alene — and secured by law enforcement officials.
