Swift act: New facts

Shooting practice, IS – and an exorcism of the devil

A picture of Beran A. - it shows him with presumably "real" pistols.(Bild: zVg)

The authorities now have cell phone videos and chats from the 19-year-old boy from Lower Austria who is said to have planned a devastating attack on a Taylor Swift concert - with drone bombs, hand grenades, knives, revolvers, gas and vehicles. The evaluation protocols are documents of horror. 

They were eerie scenes that took place in an inconspicuous terraced house in Ternitz in midsummer 2024: A bearded fellow stood in a darkened room with his index finger outstretched and pointing upwards - a gesture that Islamists use as an identifying mark - and uttered disturbing sentences, in front of a running cell phone camera.

"Oh, you Muslims, wake up. Go out wherever you are - in Europe, Asia, America - and do your jihad. Go out and terrorize the infidels. If you don't have guns, go out with knives. If you don't even have knives, run them over ..."

Radicalized - via social media
The young Lower Austrian who diligently spread the video with its call for mass murder via social media immediately after filming: Beran A. The 19-year-old who is said to have planned a devastating attack on a Taylor Swift concert. "I wanted to kill as many people there as possible," was his harrowing confession after his arrest on August 7.

The terrorist attack is said to have been planned for the second Taylor Swift concert in Vienna. It was supposed to take place on August 9.(Bild: AP/Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Countless audio and image files now seem to prove that he was indeed prepared to do the worst. Which he had deleted from his cell phone and computer before his arrest, but which have since been recovered by data forensics experts - for example, relating to heinous tips, weapons procurement, his IS wedding and even an exorcism.