An Alexandria man pleaded guilty Tuesday to threatening to murder African Americans at Howard University in D.C., the U.S. Attorney of the Eastern District of Virginia said in a news release.

John Edgar Rust, 26, of Alexandria, entered a restaurant in the city on Nov. 11, 2015, connected his laptop to the store’s wireless Internet connection and posted a threat online to murder African Americans at Howard University the next day. He then posted a statement on another online bulletin board with the username “watchouthoward” that linked to his original post.

Rust, at the time, was on probation for committing another crime.

Rust pleaded guilty to transmission in interstate commerce of a communication containing threats to injure the person and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison upon his sentencing on July 20.