Elgin man found guilty of 2006 murder

A convicted drug dealer was found guilty this afternoon of first-degree murder in a fatal shooting outside an Elgin apartment complex.

Decarlo Harris, 26, faces between 20 to 60 years in prison in the death of 20-year-old Dwayne Johnson, who was gunned down May 27, 2006, at 1255 Fleetwood Drive in the Buena Vista Apartments.

A Kane County jury began deliberating late Tuesday and took about eight hours to return its verdict, rejecting Harris' self-defense claim and the option of returning with second-degree murder or involuntary manslaughter convictions.

Harris, formerly of the 300 block of Vandalia Street in Elgin, is set to be sentenced Aug. 20 before Judge Patricia Piper Golden. His prison term would run on top of a 9-year sentence he is serving for an unrelated drug conviction.

Johnson's death took place minutes after an earlier shooting in the complex, formerly called The Mill, in which Harris was the target. Prosecutors labeled Johnson's death as a case of so-called street justice.

"It's unfortunate that young people have weapons and think that it's an appropriate way to solve disputes," prosecutor Liz Lovig said today. "You don't get to gun somebody down just because somebody else shot at you."

Johnson lived at the Buena Vista Apartments and his death stemmed from a feud between Harris and another man, LC Rankin, who at about 3:30 a.m. the day of the killing opened fire on Harris and a group of people in the parking lot.

Rankin's salvo of bullets hit several parked vehicles but missed the people in the crowd, including Harris, who ran away but ended up face-to-face with Rankin on the north side of the 1255 Fleetwood building.

According to testimony at the week-long trial, Harris punched and choked Rankin, who dropped his revolver. Johnson showed up and Harris pulled his own handgun and opened fire when, he testified, Johnson reached for Rankin's gun.

Harris's attorney, Glenn Jazwiec, was unavailable for comment.

Rankin, whose last known address was in Chicago, was arrested hours after the shooting. He later plead guilty to a weapons offense in exchange for a four-year sentence and his testimony at the trial.

Johnson's death was Elgin's first homicide of 2006 and the Buena Vista, where Johnson lived, also was the scene of the city's last homicide a year earlier.