Before Swift attack

Swift concert: Duo took a “test drive” in Sigless

The plans to attack the Swift concert were foiled and the main suspect is in custody.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/APA/Eva Manhart, zVg)

Shortly before the planned attack on one of Taylor Swift's concerts in Vienna, the suspected duo drove through a group of people at a beach party. It was supposed to be a test run ...

The 19-year-old who is said to have planned an attack on the Taylor Swift concert in Vienna's Ernst Happel Stadium and his 17-year-old accomplice took a "test drive" in a car in the Burgenland municipality of Sigleß at the beginning of August. This is according to a report by the Directorate of State Security and Intelligence (DSN).

With blue lights through group on the "Sless"
The duo had already met in a residential building on the night of August 3. The following night, the 19-year-old mounted a blue light on his mother's car. At around 1.40 a.m., the duo drove through a group of visitors to the "Sless" beach party in Sigleß with their horn blaring.

Nobody was injured in the incident. According to the constitutional protectors, it was a "test run".

The plan was to get as close as possible to the Happel Stadium as a supposed civilian and kill the fans in front of it. This caused a shock in the community where the party took place. The beach party had taken place for the first time this year after a five-year break and was celebrating its 20th anniversary.

19-year-old under observation
The DSN report also shows that the 19-year-old suspected supporter of the radical Islamist terror militia "Islamic State" had already been under surveillance since August 2. In the course of the house search at his address in Ternitz (Lower Austria), items for making a booby trap were found, among other things.