Guilty plea in shooting near Elgin football game

• Tossed gun: Kaneland-area kids were playing on Elgin field

ST. CHARLES TOWNSHIP -- A Rockford man pleaded guilty Thursday to ditching the gun used during a gang shooting last September at an Elgin field that sent parents, peewee football players and cheerleaders running for cover.

In a plea agreement, Larrell Cannon, 25, received a 6-year prison term in exchange for a guilty plea to one count of unlawful use of a weapon by a felon. Cannon was on parole from prison at the time.

"He was not (directly) involved in the shooting," said Assistant State's Attorney Greg Sams.

According to authorities, on Sept. 8, Cannon's codefendant and brother, Denarrell Mabry, 21, also of Rockford, was involved in a dispute with a group of rival gang members a short distance from where a youth football league game was being played. Youngsters from the Sugar Grove and Elburn areas were involved in the game.

Cannon and Mabry were there to watch family members who were playing and cheerleading, Elgin police said.

After an altercation, Mabry fired a chrome handgun at the rival group, Sams said.

As police responded, Mabry handed the pistol to his older brother, Sams said. Cannon tossed the gun into a nearby yard, but the gun soon was found by police.

The gunshots caused widespread panic at the game, as parents dove on top of their young children. Days later, Kaneland-area parents who were at the game vowed not to return their children to play in Elgin.

A family member previously said Cannon was simply trying to protect Mabry from a larger group.

"I'd just like to say, I love my family," Cannon told Kane County Judge Allen Anderson Thursday. "I love my brother, and I just feel like I saved him. I saved his life and I'm proud of that."

Cannon's weapons charge -- normally a Class 3 felony -- was bumped up to a Class X because of his criminal history. A parolee at the time of the Elgin incident, Cannon was serving prison time on a 2004 weapons violation.