Taylor Swift fans from the Tri-State disappointed after Vienna concerts canceled due to terror plot
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- A day after Taylor Swift's three concerts in Vienna were canceled due to a thwarted terror attack plot, fans from the Tri-State - who were planning on going to the show - expressed their disappointment.
The countdown had been on for the last seven months for Brian Larson and Brian Revis, from Hell's Kitchen. They were already in Austria, when everything changed.
"This has been like over a year in the making," Larson said. "And we had a countdown on the refrigerator back in New York and we were just so excited to get here."
Larson said they were sightseeing Wednesday and Thursday after learning the concert was no longer happening.
"We were at Belvedere Castle, and a bunch of Taylor fans were wearing bracelets, exchanging them, giving them away," he said.
The cancellation comes after authorities announced the arrest of the main suspect, a 19-year-old Austrian, who began working on his attack plans in July, and just a few weeks ago uploaded to the internet an oath of allegiance to the current leader of the Islamic State group militia. He planned to use knives or homemade explosives.
"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," said Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, the head of the Directorate of State Security and Intelligence, citing the 19-year-old's confession.
He was "clearly radicalized in the direction of the Islamic State and thinks it is right to kill infidels," Haijawi-Pirchner added.
The foiled attack was planned for Thursday or Friday, according to Austria's interior minister, Gerhard Karner. Neither suspect appeared to have a ticket to any of the shows.
During a raid of the main suspect's home in Ternitz, south of Vienna, investigators found chemical substances and technical devices that indicated "concrete preparatory acts," said Franz Ruf, Director General for Public Security at the Ministry of the Interior.
Authorities also found Islamic State group and al-Qaida material at the home of the second suspect, a 17-year-old Austrian. He was employed a few days ago by a company providing services at the venue for the concerts, and was arrested by special police forces near the stadium.
Both teens were arrested Tuesday. Neither's name was released in line with Austrian privacy rules.
No other suspects are being sought, Karner, the interior minister, said. However, a 15-year-old, who had been in contact with both suspects, was also interrogated by police.
The pop star had concerts scheduled in Vienna this Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
"I had seen the news reports about the plot, so I was like, 'oh, they're just talking to me about that,'" Newark resident Andrew Strauss said. "And then I was like, 'wait, why are all these people texting me like broken heart emojis and like, so sorry and stuff?' And then I went on Twitter, and I looked at my mom and I was like, 'I think the concert is cancelled.'"
Andrew and Allison Strauss were also planning to see Taylor Swift during a mother and son European vacation.
"I totally understand that they had to, if they thought anything could possibly happen, they had to kind of pull the plug on it," Andrew Strauss said.
"Yeah, I'm in full agreement on that," Allison Strauss said. "You know, you have a stadium full of, again, innocent people, but a lot of children and younger."
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