A man who said he was pursuing "jihad" pleaded guilty to murder and terrorism in New Jersey on Tuesday and surprised prosecutors by admitting in court that he also killed three people in Washington state in 2014.

The man, Ali Muhammad Brown, 34, formerly of Seattle, changed his mind and pleaded guilty to having killed Brendan Tevlin, 19, of West Orange, New Jersey, as jury selection was under way in Essex County Superior County, the county prosecutor's office said. Then, without prompting, he admitted to having killed three other men in Washington — two of whom he said he killed because he believed they were gay.

"In his statement to the court today Brown admitted that the killings were a part of what he described as a 'jihad,'" said the prosecutor's office. He faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

Brown had already been charged with the three deaths in the Seattle area — a man who was shot in the Seattle suburb of Skyway in April 2014 and two men who were shot outside a Seattle nightclub two months later. Essex County prosecutors said Brown admitted to having killed the two men in June 2014 "because he believed they were homosexual."

King County, Washington, prosecutors said at the time that all of the killings showed "an extreme level of violence." If he's ever convicted of those killings, he could face the death penalty.

 

Read more:  NBC News