Taylor Swift Vienna terror threat suspects: 1 employed by the venue, other ISIS-inspired teen intended to kill fans

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Three teenagers, aged 19, 17 and 15, were arrested Wednesday over alleged plans to carry out a terror attack at a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna.

The 17-year-old suspect conspiring the terror threat reportedly started working at concert stop - Ernst Happel Stadium - days before the pop star's shows. TMZ stated that the teenager had got the gig with a facility management company at the concert venue as a means to better prepare for the alleged attack alongside his accomplice.

Authorities also claimed that the terrorists possibly had plans to drive a vehicle into the crowd outside the stadium, where Taylor's fans - who miss out on bagging a ticket to the show - gather around to listen to their favourite singer. Here, the 17-year-old, who was arrested outside the venue, could have detonated a bomb.

What's been discovered about the suspects of the foiled Taylor Swift Vienna concert terror attack?

General Director for Public Security Frankz Ruf said the purported suspects' disposition reflected “concrete preparatory actions,” resulting in authorities labelling the near disaster a “serious terror plot.” He also uncovered that the oldest teen suspect of the trio “had a particular focus on the Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna.”

International media circulated a picture of the purported main suspect - a 19-year-old Austrian national. Authorities asserted he confessed to the plans.

A screen displays a photo of a man arrested in connection with an Islamist attack plot that caused the cancellation of the Vienna leg of a tour by American mega-star Taylor Swift, on the sidelines of a press conference on August 8, 2024 at the Foreign Ministy in Vienna, Austria. A 19-year-old IS sympathiser was planning a suicide attack at a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna designed to kill many people, the intelligence agency said.

According to a Thursday press release by the Vienna Federal Ministry of the Interior, the prime suspect, arrested on Wednesday, intended to attack fans using “bladed weapons as well as the construction of a bomb.”

Ruf added that officials found “chemical substances, liquids, explosive and technical devices that could be used to manufacture explosives” at the suspect's home. The search also discovered bomb-making instructions and machetes.

National intelligence head Omar Haijawi-Pirchner said, “He wanted to carry out an attack in the area outside the stadium, killing as many people as possible using the knives or even using the explosive devices he had made.”

In addition to confessing to the charges against him, the suspect also revealed he had recently left his job while swearing allegiance to ISIS.

Shortly after the news made headlines, the pop singer cancelled three of her Eras Tour concerts in Vienna. Her upcoming London shows remain unaffected by these recent cancellations and are expected to proceed as scheduled.

“There is nothing to indicate that the matters being investigated by the Austrian authorities will have an impact on upcoming events here in London,” a spokesperson for London's Metropolitan Police said.