CBS News
Taylor Swift addresses Vienna shows canceled over alleged terrorist plot
Taylor Swift on Wednesday publicly addressed the three concerts that were canceled in Vienna after authorities said they foiled a planned terrorist attack, saying that having to call off the performances was “devastating.”
“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,” Swift wrote on Instagram following the conclusion of the European leg of her Eras Tour. “But I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives.”
Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images
Three sold-out shows at Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium were abruptly canceled earlier this month following the arrest of two teenagers who were allegedly planning a terrorist attack outside the venue, according to Austrian authorities. A third teenager was arrested a few days later in connection with the alleged plot.
Austrian authorities said a 17-year-old Austrian citizen with Turkish and Croatian roots and a 19-year-old Austrian citizen had planned to kill people outside the venue using knives or self-made explosives. While the alleged plot was foiled a day before the first of the three shows was scheduled, all three were called off.
Authorities said the plot appeared to have been inspired by ISIS and Al Qaeda. Investigators said they found bomb-making materials at one of the suspects’ homes. ISIS and Al Qaeda material were also allegedly found at the home of one of the suspects.
HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images
“I was heartened by the love and unity I saw in the fans who banded together,” Swift wrote Wednesday. “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. My team and I worked hand in hand with stadium staff and British authorities every day in pursuit of that goal, and I want to thank them for everything they did for us.”
The tour resumed last week in London, where Swift played five sold-out shows at Wembley Stadium, but with added security measures. Of note, fans were not allowed to gather outside the venue prior to the show, as they had done at previous stops throughout the tour.
“My priority was finishing our European tour safely, and it is with great relief that I can say we did that,” Swift wrote.
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
A 15-year-old boy was charged Thursday with murder in the shooting deaths of his parents and three of his siblings at a home in Fall City, Washington, according to court documents obtained by CBS News.
The teen, whose name is being withheld because he is a juvenile, was charged with five counts of aggravated murder in the slayings of his parents, Mark and Sarah Humiston, two brothers, ages 9 and 13, and his 7-year-old sister, per King County court records.
He was also charged with one count of attempted murder for shooting and wounding his 11-year-old sister, the documents read.
That girl was in “satisfactory condition” at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, hospital spokesperson Susan Gregg told the Associated Press Tuesday.
Autopsies performed by the King County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that all five victims died of gunshot wounds. The handgun used in the shooting was believed to belong to the victim’s father, the court records state.
According to the charging documents, just before 5 a.m. Monday, the suspect called 911 with a false story in which he claimed that his 13-year-old brother “just shot my whole family and committed suicide too” at the family’s home in Fall City, which is a community located near Seattle.
However, at about the same time as that call, 911 dispatchers received a second call from a neighbor who lives about a quarter-mile away. That neighbor said the suspect’s 11-year-old sister had ran to his house and was bleeding from what appeared to be a gunshot wound, the documents said.
The girl said her entire family had been fatally shot and identified her 15-year-old brother as the shooter. The girl told dispatchers she was also shot by her brother and “then described holding her breath and playing dead,” the documents read. The girl later told detectives that she had escaped through a bedroom window.
Deputies responded to the Humiston home, where they found the suspect in the driveway and took him into custody, court records show. The five victims were found dead inside the home.
In a hospital interview with detectives later that day, the suspect’s surviving sister said that she identified the firearm used in the shooting as “her father’s silver Glock handgun,” court documents state.
She said that her father kept the pistol in a small lockbox that “he would sometimes put by the front door so he could bring it to work,” the documents read. She told detectives that the suspect was “the only one who knew the combination to the Glock lockbox.”
Investigators determined that the suspect “systematically murdered” his parents and siblings and “then staged the scene prior to the arrival of first responders to make it appear” that the murders had been committed by his 11-year-old brother, documents read.
The court documents did not speculate on a motive.
The suspect is scheduled to be arraigned Friday afternoon. The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said in a news release Thursday that the suspect is in custody at the Clark Child and Family Justice Center, which is a juvenile facility.
The teen is currently being charged as a juvenile, and prosecutors said a judge will determine whether his case “will be moved to adult court.”
In a statement Tuesday, public defenders representing the suspect said that “our client is a 15-year-old boy who enjoys mountain biking and fishing and has no criminal history.”
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
