The Taylor Swift fan community and the Austrian city of Vienna were hit with some scary news yesterday (August 7): Two suspects who intended to carry out a terror attack at Swift’s upcoming Vienna concerts had been arrested. The concerts were later canceled, and now more details about the situation have emerged.
As the Associated Press reports, Austrian officials said today that the main suspect confessed he planned to “kill as many people as possible outside the concert venue.”
The 19-year-old apparently began working on his plans for the attack and July, at which point he quit his job and “conspicuously changed his appearance and adapted to [Islamic State] propaganda.”
Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, the head of the Directorate Of State Security And Intelligence, said the suspect intended to use knives or self-made explosives outside Ernst Happel Stadium. Haijawi-Pirchner also noted that the suspect was “clearly radicalized in the direction of the Islamic State and thinks it is right to kill infidels.”
Meanwhile, the second suspect, a 17-year-old Austrian, reportedly had Islamic State group and al-Qaida material at his home, and days ago, he got a job with a company that would have been providing services at the concert venue.
Next on Swift’s schedule is five shows at London’s Wembley Stadium from August 15 to 20. Variety reports today that the shows are currently set to happen as scheduled, but tour promoter AEG is reportedly “working closely with both Wembley and Swift’s team to review the situation, including any additional security measures that may be implemented.”
