Austrian prosecutors charge suspect in foiled plan to target Taylor Swift shows
Austrian public prosecutors filed terrorism-related charges Monday against a 21-year-old defendant whom they said planned to carry out an attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna in August 2024, according to prosecutors and Austrian officials.
Prosecutors said the defendant had declared allegiance to the Islamic State group by sharing propaganda material and videos through various messaging services. Prosecutors also accused him of obtaining online instructions for constructing a shrapnel bomb based on explosive triacetone triperoxide, and of having produced a small amount of the explosive.
In addition to the bomb-related allegations, Vienna prosecutors said the defendant made “several attempts” to buy weapons illegally outside the country and bring them to Austria. Vienna prosecutors said they plan to proceed with a criminal case against the unnamed suspect in Wiener Neustadt, a town near the Austrian capital.
Austrian authorities canceled three planned Taylor Swift shows in Vienna in August 2024 after they said they foiled what they described as an apparent plot to target the performances. Austrian media later identified the suspect as Beran A. and said he was arrested in August 2024, while prosecutors said the defendant is in custody.
The U.S. intelligence that helped spur the cancellation was tied to broader counterterrorism cooperation, then-White House national security spokesman John Kirby said in August 2024. Kirby said the United States “did share information with Austrian partners to enable the disruption of a threat to Taylor Swift’s concerts there in Vienna,” adding that the U.S. “has an enduring focus on our counterterrorism mission” and works “closely with partners all over the world to monitor and disrupt threats.”