The main suspect in the planned ISIS-style “bloodbath” terror attack at a Taylor Swift concert in Austria had allegedly groped and was violent toward female classmates at school, a new report says.
The 19-year-old Austrian, whom authorities have not yet publicly identified, had shown bouts of violence while attending business school in the German town of Neunkirchen in recent years, local outlet Profil reported.
US officials provided the terrorism tip “to enable the disruption of the threat to Taylor Swift’s concerts,” White House spokesman John Kirby said Friday — though the main suspect was known locally for lesser offenses.
The teen harassed and inappropriately touched girls in his class, former classmates told Profil.
In one particularly violent ordeal, he also grabbed a male student by the neck and pushed him against a wall, his peers alleged.
The details emerged after investigators revealed the teen had recently become radicalized online by ISIS.
The alleged mastermind of this week’s plot, who was arrested alongside two other teens, ages 18 and 17, had recently sworn an oath of allegiance to the terror group in an online video, security officials said.
He is believed to have been influenced by Berlin-based preacher Abul Baraa, German outlet Bild reported, citing intelligence sources.
Here’s everything we know about the attempted terrorist attack at a Taylor Swift concert
- A 17-year-old and a 19-year-old were arrested for plotting an ISIS-style terror attack at one of Taylor Swift’s Austrian concerts this week.
- A third suspect, 18, was arrested two nights later.
- The would-be terrorists planned to drive a bomb-filled car into the Eras Tour crowd to kill as many people as possible.
- The main suspect — who authorities say fully confessed to the attack plans after his arrest — had recently sworn allegiance to Islamic State’s leader online, security officials said. He had reportedly just been hired by the venue to work security.
- Swift’s three sold-out Eras shows in Vienna have been canceled.
- Swift previously said her “biggest fear” in life was a violent attack at one of her concerts in a resurfaced article penned by the singer in 2019.
Austrian officials handling the probe have said the online radicalization of the teen happened quickly.
In addition to swearing the pledge, the teen suspect allegedly told people he had “something big” planned after quitting his job July 25.
Others who knew him have also said he only recently started to show hints of being radicalized.
Some said he’d opted to grow a long beard and had become more serious in the run-up to the foiled plot.
Investigators have said the teen made a full confession after he was nabbed during a police operation at his home in Ternitz near the Hungarian border. Bomb-making materials were uncovered at the home.
He allegedly detailed wanting to carry out the suicide attack at Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium using the homemade explosives and knives in a bid to kill as many people as possible.
A 17-year-old Austrian citizen with Turkish and Croatian roots and an 18-year-old Iraqi national — who have also shown ties to ISIS — were arrested over the thwarted plot, too, authorities said.
