Chemicals found in home of Austrian man suspected of plotting Swift concert attack – Indianapolis News | Indiana Weather | Indiana Traffic

VIENNA (AP) — Three Taylor Swift concerts this week in Vienna have been canceled after arrests were made over an apparent plot to launch an attack in the area, possibly at the stadium itself, and at least one of the suspects was linked to the Islamic State group.

Chemical substances and technical devices were found in the home of the suspect, a 19-year-old Austrian, according to Franz Ruf, director of public security at the Austrian Interior Ministry.

In an interview Thursday with public broadcaster ORF’s Oe1 program, Ruf said investigators were evaluating evidence seized from the suspect’s home. Just a few weeks ago, the 19-year-old had uploaded an oath of allegiance to the current leader of the Islamic State group’s militia to an internet account, Ruf added.

A second person has been arrested in the Austrian capital. Several Austrian media outlets reported Thursday that additional suspects were being sought — something police have not officially confirmed.

The cancellations devastated Swift’s fans around the world, many of whom had spent thousands of euros on travel and accommodation in the expensive Austrian capital for the sold-out Eras Tour shows on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Ernst Happel Stadium, which was empty Thursday morning except for media footage outside.

Europe is in love with the American superstar, with the German city of Gelsenkirchen renaming itself “Swiftkirchen” ahead of her mid-July shows.

Austrian Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler wrote on social media platform X: “For many, a dream was shattered today. On three nights in Vienna, tens of thousands of #Swifties should have celebrated life together.”

“I’m so sorry this was denied to you. Swifties unite, hate and terror can’t destroy that,” Kogler wrote Wednesday night.

Ruf said authorities were aware of “preparatory actions” for a possible attack “and also that there is a focus of the 19-year-old perpetrator on Taylor Swift’s concerts in Vienna,” the Austria Press Agency reported.

The Austrian national is believed to have been radicalized online. Ruf did not provide further details, including the names of the suspects, in accordance with Austrian privacy law.

Event organizer Barracuda Music said in an Instagram post Wednesday night that “we have no choice but to cancel the three scheduled shows for everyone’s safety.” The post cited government officials’ confirmation of a planned attack at the stadium.

The cancellation came hours after officials said security measures for Swift’s shows would be stepped up. Ruf previously said there would be a special focus on, among other things, entrance checks, and concertgoers should plan for a little extra time.

Vienna police chief Gerhard Pürstl said at the same time that while any concrete danger had been downplayed, an abstract risk justified the increased security.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer posted on X that “the cancellation of Taylor Swift’s concerts by the organizers is a bitter disappointment for all fans in Austria.”

“The situation surrounding the apparently planned terrorist attack in Vienna was very serious,” he wrote. But he added that thanks to intensive cooperation between the police and Austrian and foreign intelligence, “the threat could be recognized early on, countered and a tragedy prevented.”

Barracuda Music said that “all tickets will be automatically refunded within the next 10 business days.” The same text was posted under the Vienna dates on Swift’s official website.

The Vienna stadium was sold out for the planned shows, the APA reported, with an estimated 170,000 fans expected to attend the shows in Austria.

Some who posted on X lamented months of effort, now wasted, to make friendship bracelets and choose fashionable outfits for the performance.

The cancellations come more than a week after a knife attack in the seaside town of Southport in northwest England during a Taylor Swift-themed summer holiday dance and yoga class. The violence left three girls dead and 10 others injured. A 17-year-old girl has been charged with murder.

In 2017, an attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, killed 22 people. Suicide bomber Salman Abedi placed a backpack bomb in the Manchester Arena at the end of Grande’s concert as thousands of young fans were leaving. More than 100 people were injured. Abedi died in the blast.

An official inquiry reported in 2023 that Britain’s domestic intelligence agency, MI5, failed to act quickly enough on important information and missed a significant opportunity to prevent the attack, the deadliest extremist attack in the UK in recent years.

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Dazio reported from Berlin. Associated Press writers Geir Moulson and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin, and Jan Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, contributed to this report.