The planned attack forced the singer to cancel three shows during her 2024 Eras Tour.

Man who plotted attack on Taylor Swift concert in Vienna sentenced to 15 years in prison

The planned attack forced the singer to cancel three shows during her 2024 Eras Tour.

By Marina Watts

Marina Watts

Marina Watts is a news writer for with seven years experience covering entertainment, pop culture and celebrity news. Her previous work appears in PEOPLE, Bustle and Newsweek.

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on May 29, 2026 4:37 p.m. ET

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Taylor Swift; defendant Beran A. Credit:

Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty; Christian Bruna/Getty

- The man who plotted an attack on a 2024 Taylor Swift concert in Vienna has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

- Swift was forced to cancel three shows at Ernst Happel Stadium because of the terror plot.

- The 21-year-old Austrian man admitted that he'd been planning other attacks before targeting the singer's concert.

A man who plotted an attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The 21-year-old man, referred to as Beran A due to Austrian privacy laws, was found guilty of several terrorism-related offenses in the state court in Wiener Neustadt this week, reported various outlets, including BBC, Reuters, and the Austria Press Agency.

Beran A pleaded guilty to charges related to the 2024 terror plot during his trial after he was arrested on Aug. 7, 2024, the day before the first of Swift's three planned concerts in the Austrian capital.

As he entered the courtroom, he covered his face with a ring binder to avoid ​being identified in pictures, Reuters reported. "I would just like to say that I am sorry," he said in his final statement during the trial.

The jury later found him guilty by unanimous decision on all but two of the 15 charges; those charges ​were lesser ones dealing with issues like spreading Islamic State propaganda.

Swift's three Vienna shows at Ernst Happel Stadium, part of her massively successful Eras Tour, were canceled because of the terror plot. Per authorities, Beran A planned to "kill as many people as possible."

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Ahead of Swift's first concert on Aug. 8, promoter Barracuda Music announced that the Vienna shows would not go on as scheduled after receiving "confirmation from government officials" about the planned terrorist attack.

At the time, authorities arrested two additional suspects in connection with the planned attack, which was intended as part of a coordinated siege of multiple sites during Ramadan in the name of Islamic State. CIA Deputy Director David S. Cohen stated that they "were plotting to kill a huge number, tens of thousands of people, at this concert," reported *The New York Times*.

"The Austrians were able to make those arrests because the agency and our partners in the intelligence community provided them information about what this ISIS-connected group was planning to do."

Friendship bracelets pay tribute to Taylor Swift in Vienna, Austria.

EVA MANHART/APA/AFP via Getty

Beran A was also accused of ​plotting with two school friends to execute attacks in different Middle Eastern cities in early 2024. He and co-defendant Arda K admitted that they'd traveled ‌to Dubai and Istanbul, respectively, ⁠to carry out stabbing attacks but could not go through with it, reported Reuters.

Arda K, a Slovak native, was found guilty unanimously on all of his charges and sentenced to 12 years in prison. Both men's lawyers said they had not decided yet whether to appeal, per Reuters.

Swift addressed the plotted attack in a lengthy Instagram post weeks after the Vienna cancellations, calling the decision to do so "devastating" but asserting that the safety of her fans was her priority. "The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows," she said at the time.

She continued, "But I was also so grateful to the authorities because, thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives. I was heartened by the love and unity I saw in the fans who banded together. I decided that all of my energy had to go toward helping to protect the nearly half a million people I had coming to see the shows in London."

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She also addressed not having spoken about the terror plot right after canceling her shows. "Let me be very clear: I am not going to speak about something publicly if I think doing so might provoke those who would want to harm the fans who come to my shows."

Swift concluded: "In cases like this one, 'silence' is actually showing restraint, and waiting to express yourself at a time when it's right to. My priority was finishing our European tour safely, and it is with great relief that I can say we did that."

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Source: “EW Music”