COLUMBIA, South Carolina (CNN) -- A 21-year-old member of the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan pleaded guilty Monday to federal civil rights charges for the drive-by shootings of three black teenagers in South Carolina two years ago.

Joshua England of New Holland, South Carolina, pleaded guilty in federal court to three felony counts for injuring the teen-agers because they were black and for using a firearm during the October 27, 1996, shooting.

England fired a Chinese-made semi-automatic assault rifle into a crowd of African Americans outside a nightclub in Pelion, South Carolina. The shooting victims survived their injuries.

England told U.S. District Judge Joe Anderson that he targeted the crowd because of their race.

"I wasn't raised that way," he said. "I guess I was having some problems and I got mixed up with a group." That group was the Klan.

England's plea agreement also calls for him to plead guilty in state court to three counts of assault and battery with intent to kill.

In Washington, Acting Assistant Attorney for Civil Rights Bill Lann Lee issued a statement promising federal authorities would continue to prosecute perpetrators of racial violence.

"The color of a person's skin is not an invitation for violence," Lee said.

England faces a maximum sentence of life in prison but Anderson said plea bargain guidelines indicate his sentence will end up being about 25 years.

England and a companion involved in the incident, Clayton Spires Jr., are members of the same Klan group whose members were prosecuted on federal firearms and civil rights charges two years ago following the investigation of a church fire near Manning, South Carolina.

Spires has been indicted on the same state charges as England, along with accessory after the fact of a felony and driving under the influence.

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