Alleged Plotter in Taylor Swift Concert Attack Scheme Charged

A man allegedly involved in plotting a terrorist attack at a Taylor Swift concert in Austria is now formally facing terrorism charges, the New York Times reports. Prosecutors in Vienna say a 21-year-old Austrian man, not publicly named, pledged support to the Islamic State terrorist group online and planned an attack on Swift's 2024 Eras Tour stop in the city—a threat that ultimately led to the cancellation of three shows, the BBC reports. He is alleged to have planned other attacks, including in Istanbul and Dubai, that never came to fruition, the Guardian reports.

Investigators accuse the suspect of downloading ISIS bomb-making instructions for a shrapnel device tailored for mass-casualty attacks, repeatedly trying to buy guns and a hand grenade, and directing illegal dealers to smuggle weapons into Austria. The man has been in custody since August 2024 and could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. The case began with a tip from US intelligence, officials say, and follows other concert-related terror attacks in Paris in 2015 and at an Ariana Grande show in Manchester in 2017. German authorities last year charged—and later gave an 18-month suspended juvenile sentence to—a Syrian teenager who they say helped the main suspect by translating ISIS materials linked to the Vienna plot.