An ambush that left two firefighters dead and another critically injured in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, is drawing heightened scrutiny after internet users pointed out a chilling connection to a controversial event that occurred exactly 24 years earlier, as reported by The New York Post.

The shooting took place Sunday on Canfield Mountain, just outside Coeur d’Alene, after a man allegedly started a fire and then opened fire on first responders arriving to battle the blaze.

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Robber wearing black hood holding gun, ready to shoot. Armed gangster criminal, killer. Weapon, violence concept

Two firefighters were killed, and a third remains hospitalized. The gunman was later found dead near his weapon, according to law enforcement.

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The incident happened on June 30—the same date that, in 2001, the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department carried out a training exercise in which it deliberately burned down the former headquarters of the neo-Nazi Aryan Nations compound in nearby Hayden Lake, just seven miles away.

That compound had been owned by Aryan Nations leader Richard Butler.

The group was forced to relinquish the property after a successful lawsuit brought by Victoria Keenan, a Native American woman who was fired upon by Aryan Nations security guards while driving with her son. Butler was ordered to pay $6.3 million in damages, leading to the group’s financial collapse.

Following the court victory, Keenan purchased the compound for $95,000 before selling it to a local philanthropist. That individual donated it to the city for use in fire department training.

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The compound was set ablaze in a two-day exercise on June 28 and 29, 2001, with the final structure destroyed on June 30.

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Wooden house or barn burning on fire at night.

Now, internet users are speculating about whether the timing of Sunday’s ambush is a coincidence or a possible act of retribution linked to the fire department’s role in burning the Aryan Nations property.

“I do not think it is a coincidence that on this date in 2001, firefighters in Coeur d’Alene burned down the Aryan Nation founder’s compound,” one X user posted Sunday. “The tragic current events are unfolding nearby.”

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Another user speculated the attack could involve “Richard Butler ppl laying stake.”

A third commented, “Despite being pushed out, they have returned in the last few years.”

Authorities have not released the name of the shooter and have not indicated any motive. There is no official confirmation linking the ambush to political or ideological extremism.

The Aryan Nations, once headquartered in Hayden Lake, has been defunct since 2001. Richard Butler died in 2004. The site of the former compound is now a public park dedicated to peace.

The investigation into Sunday’s ambush remains ongoing.

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