Sane?

Swift terrorist is examined by a psychiatrist

(Bild: zVg)

In the investigation into the foiled terrorist attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna, the main suspect Beran A. is now undergoing a psychiatric assessment. According to the public prosecutor's office, the aim is to clarify whether the 19-year-old was sane at the time of the attack.

Judith Ziska, spokeswoman for the Vienna public prosecutor's office, announced on Thursday that the prosecution had appointed a psychiatric expert. A dangerousness prognosis will also be drawn up.

IS sympathizer
The 19-year-old, who was registered with his parents in Ternitz (district of Neunkirchen), is suspected of having planned a suicide attack on the second of three planned Taylor Swift concerts on August 9 in the name of the radical Islamic terror militia IS, which he initially confessed to after his arrest.

Beran A.'s beard is now history ...(Image: zVg)

(Bild: zVg)

He has since changed his plea. The law enforcement authorities assume that he wanted to kill as many "Swifties", as the fans of the pop icon are known, gathered outside the stadium as possible, either with an explosive device he had made himself or with cutting and stabbing weapons in his possession.

Explosive discoveries during house search
During a house search of the 19-year-old arrested on August 7, several electronic detonation devices, a twelve-channel transmitter, a detonator, a 60-centimetre-long metal pipe, a 30-centimetre-long combat knife, a 46-centimetre-long machete and a butterfly knife were seized in addition to chemicals and a liquid containing TATP.

In custody until September 23
The public prosecutor's office is currently investigating the 19-year-old for terrorist association, criminal organization and offenses against the Weapons Act, emphasized Ziska, spokeswoman for the authorities. The accused is in custody until September 23rd due to the urgent suspicion of the crime.

At the beginning of July, the 19-year-old shared a photo on his Instagram account in which he pledged allegiance - a so-called baya - to the current leader of IS in German and Arabic. He posed with two knives in the style of the Vienna attacker who killed four people in the city center on November 2, 2020, before being shot dead by the police.

19-year-old had plans to build a bomb
Subsequently, the 19-year-old demonstrably obtained plans to build a bomb and procured chemicals that could be used to produce explosive triacetone triperoxide (TATP). On July 29, he then tried to order a hand grenade, a Zastava M70, which is based on the technology of the Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifle, and a pistol from the USA via the messaging service Telegram, but failed in this endeavor.

Suspect marked Swift concert on cell phone
It has now also been confirmed that the 19-year-old had marked August 9 - the date of the second Taylor Swift concert - in a calendar entry on his cell phone and had repeatedly googled the pop singer's Vienna concerts. Another calendar entry was saved on August 6 and read "refrigerator". During a search of the house the following day, investigators from the Directorate of State Security and Intelligence (DSN) found a glass bottle containing a colorless liquid in the refrigerator in the 19-year-old's kitchen, and a preliminary wet chemical test for TATP came back positive.

The extent to which the chemicals and explosive devices procured by the 19-year-old would have been suitable for carrying out a terrorist attack "is being clarified by the DSN as part of the investigation", said the spokeswoman for the public prosecutor's office. There is currently an "initial assessment".

Final assessment pending
The final assessment will probably also determine whether the public prosecutor's investigation will be extended to include terrorist offenses in connection with attempted murder, taking into account that the 19-year-old, with his two knives and a machete, already had weapons that were recently used by an IS supporter to kill several people in Solingen, Germany.