(NewsNation) — Retired FBI Special Agent Rob D’Amico warns that the Taylor Swift concert threat “brings into reality that we’re not safe.”
“With agencies like the FBI, we’re constantly looking at these threats. We’re seeing what’s really real and what’s make believe,” D’Amico said Wednesday on “The Hill.”
Organizers of three Swift concerts in Vienna this week called them off Wednesday after officials announced arrests over an apparent plot to launch an attack in the Vienna area.
Swift was scheduled to play at the Austrian capital’s Ernst Happel Stadium on Thursday, Friday and Saturday as part of her Eras Tour.
Event organizer Barracuda Music said in a post on its Instagram channel late Wednesday that “we have no choice but to cancel the three scheduled shows for everyone’s safety.” It cited government officials’ “confirmation” of a planned attack at the stadium.
Earlier Wednesday, authorities said they had arrested two suspected extremists, one of whom appeared to be planning an attack on an event in the Vienna area such as the upcoming concerts. The 19-year-old main suspect was arrested in Ternitz, south of Vienna, and the second person in the Austrian capital.
Franz Ruf, the public security director at Austria’s interior ministry, said authorities were aware of “preparatory actions” for a possible attack “and also that there is a focus by the 19-year-old perpetrator on the Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna,” the Austria Press Agency reported.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.