White supremacist James Jackson, 30, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to stabbing and killing a black man as an act of domestic terrorism.
"White nationalism will not be normalized in New York," said Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. in a statement. "If you come here to kill New Yorkers in the name of white nationalism, you will be investigated, prosecuted, and incapacitated like the terrorist that you are."
On March 20, 2017, Jackson, who is white, stabbed Timothy Caughman in the back with a 26-inch sword in midtown Manhattan.
Caughman, a 66-year-old black man who'd been collecting cans for recycling, staggered into a police station a block away, before collapsing and dying of his injuries.
After Jackson's arrest, he told police he had taken a bus from Baltimore armed with a sword and two knives specifically to kill black men.
He wanted to "inspire white men to kill black men, to scare black men, and to provoke a race war," according to a press release from the DA's office on Wednesday.
Authorities said Jackson stalked several potential victims before choosing Caughman, and saw his death as a practice run as he intended to kill more black men in Times Square.
Jackson told police that he'd chosen Manhattan for his planned killing spree because it was a global media center.
In April 2017, Jackson pleaded not guilty to murder and terrorism charges.
However, the DA's office said Jackson told investigators that he saw his killing of Caughman as a "political terrorist attack" and a "declaration of global total war on the Negro race," and wanted the murder to inspire governments to pursue policies to exterminate black people.
On Wednesday, Jackson pleaded guilty in New York State Supreme Court to two counts of murder as an act of terrorism, a charge of murder as a hate crime, and a weapons charge. It's the first time anyone has been prosecuted for murder as an act of terrorism in New York.
Jackson is expected to be sentenced on Feb. 13 to life in prison without parole.