Man found guilty in 2021 murder in Montgomery

A Montgomery man has been found guilty of first-degree murder for a fatal shooting at a party in 2021.

Ladarius A. Parker, 27, was convicted by a Kane County jury on March 3, authorities announced Monday.

Kane County prosecutors said Parker was attending a party on May 2, 2021, in the 1700 block of Stonegate Drive in Montgomery when he shot and killed 30-year-old Christopher B. McMorris of Aurora.

Police said at the time they were called to a disturbance and that people had reportedly been fighting.

McMorris had been sitting in a parked vehicle. He was shot in the head.

U.S. Marshals arrested Parker Jan. 7, 2022, in Freeport. He has been held in the Kane County jail on $3 million bail since then.

His next court date is May 1 for sentencing.

First-degree murder carries a sentence of 20 to 60 years. But the jury found Parker personally shot the gun, so that automatically adds 25 years to the sentence, per state law.