Terror suspect, 19, who pledged allegiance to ISIS arrested over alleged attack plot targeting Taylor Swift shows in Austria
A 19-year-old terror suspect who pledged allegiance to ISIS was arrested Wednesday morning in Austria over an alleged attack plot targeting now-canceled Taylor Swift shows this week in Vienna.
A second suspect in the alleged plot, who also reportedly radicalized himself online, was arrested later in the day, ABC News reported.
The 19-year-old has ‘North Macedonian roots’ and ‘lived with his family in Ternitz’ and was arrested ‘under strong suspicion of terrorism,’ according to the Los Angeles Times, which cited Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung.
The 19-year-old — an Austrian citizen — allegedly pledged allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State in the beginning of July and was particularly focused on Swift’s concerts, ABC News said, citing Franz Ruf, director-general for public safety in the Ministry of the Interior.
Swift’s shows scheduled for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at the Ernst-Happel-Stadion in Vienna were canceled Wednesday, the Associated Press reported. Each show was expected to draw 65,000, ABC News noted. Event organizer Barracuda Music said in an Instagram post that “we have no choice but to cancel the three scheduled shows for everyone’s safety,” the AP added.
Amid the 19-year-old’s arrest, a bomb squad allegedly found chemical substances, NBC News said, adding that investigators are working to determine whether the substances could have been used to build a bomb.
The 19-year-old has “North Macedonian roots” and “lived with his family in Ternitz” and was arrested “under strong suspicion of terrorism,” according to the Los Angeles Times, which cited Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung. Ternitz is around 43 miles south of Vienna, the Times added.
Anything else?
It’s far from clear whether there’s any connection to Wednesday’s arrests, but none of the aforementioned news outlets mentioned the deadly July 29 mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed children’s dance class in Southport, England, during which a 17-year-old male killed three and injured numerous other victims.
Officials initially said there was no evidence that terrorism was a motive for the attack, which angered many who accused the government of covering up evidence. Police identified suspect Axel Rudakubana and charged him with three counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder. Officials identified him as being from Cardiff but also noted that his parents are Rwandan.
Unrest and violence erupted the day after the stabbings and has spread across the United Kingdom. Prime Minister Keir Starmer denounced the violence and blamed “far-right thuggery.”
Radio host Glenn Beck, co-founder of Blaze Media, on Tuesday opined that “two-tier justice” — in which police more or less ignore Muslim immigrant crime but come down hard on non-Muslims — has been laid bare in the U.K. in the wake of the deadly knife attack.
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