The lawyer for his prime suspect in the planned attack on her concert Taylor Swiftin Vienna, tried today to downplay the seriousness of the case, saying her client was “only playing with ideas”.

Swift’s three concerts scheduled for this week have been canceled after Austrian authorities discovered the 19-year-old’s alleged plans to carry out an ISIS-inspired suicide attack at a stadium where tens of thousands of fans of the American singer would have gathered.

Austrian investigators said the young man had recently pledged allegiance to Islamic State and confessed to everything after police raided his home, during which chemicals, machetes and other devices planned to be used in a bomb attack were seized.

Lawyer Ina-Kristin Stiglitz told Reuters the 19-year-old had only been involved with the Islamic State group for the past month.

“He was interested,” she stated, implying that her client did not really intend to commit a serious assault.

“He was just playing with ideas,” he emphasized. “He says the bomb wasn’t of good quality, it wouldn’t have worked.”

According to her, the 19-year-old had searched the internet for information on how to make an explosive device.

Among three other youths Austrian police have taken into custody as part of the investigation is a 17-year-old, whom Stiglitz said her client described as his “best friend and neighbor.”

Neighbors of the 19-year-old in the small town of Ternic said they were shocked by his arrest, describing him as a shy but friendly person. One of the few clues to possible radicalization was that he had recently grown a long beard, they say.

When asked why he had changed his appearance, his lawyer replied: “He wanted to look comfortable.”