Suspects hoped to ‘kill as many people as possible’ in foiled plot at Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna

VIENNA (AP) — Austrian security officials said Thursday that the main suspect among two arrested in a foiled plot to attack Taylor Swift’s canceled concerts in Vienna has fully confessed to his plans to “kill as many people as possible outside the concert venue.”

Officials told reporters at a news conference in the Austrian capital that they found ties to the Islamic State group and when the 19-year-old began working on his attack plans in July, he quit his regular job and “visibly changed his appearance and adapted to IS propaganda.”

The head of the State Security and Intelligence Directorate, Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, said the 19-year-old wanted to use knives or homemade explosives outside the Ernst Happel Stadium to kill as many people as possible.

He was “clearly radicalized towards the Islamic State and thinks it is right to kill infidels,” Haijawi-Pirchner said.

Just a few weeks ago, the 19-year-old had also uploaded an oath of allegiance to the current leader of the Islamic State group’s militia on an internet account. During a raid on his home in Ternitz, south of Vienna, investigators found chemical substances and technical devices that indicated “concrete preparatory acts,” said Franz Ruf, Director General for Public Security at the Interior Ministry.

Authorities also found material from the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda at the home of the second suspect, a 17-year-old Austrian. He was hired a few days ago by a company that provided services at the concert venue and was arrested by special police forces near the stadium.

The names of the suspects have not been released in accordance with Austrian privacy rules.

No other suspects are being sought, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said. However, a 15-year-old boy who had been in contact with both suspects has also been questioned by police.

“The situation was serious, the situation is serious. But we can also say: A tragedy was avoided,” he said.

The cancellations of three sold-out shows this week have devastated Swift fans around the world, many of whom spent thousands of euros (dollars) 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.

Security authorities and the concert organizers, Barracuda Music, were in direct contact about the cancellation of the three shows, but in the end it was the organizer who made the decision.

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 confirming a planned attack at the stadium.

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 stand together, hate and terror cannot destroy that,” Kogler added.

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 packed 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 now-wasted effort to make friendship bracelets and pick out fashionable outfits for the performance.

Swift is due to perform at London’s Wembley Stadium for five shows between August 15 and 20 to close the European leg of her record-breaking Eras Tour.

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 M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, contributed to this report.

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