8 December 1980; 43 years ago (1980-12-08) c. 10:50 p.m. (US Eastern time (UTC−05:00))
Attack type
Murder by shooting, assassination
Weapon
Charter Arms Undercover .38 Special revolver
Victim
John Lennon
Perpetrator
Mark David Chapman
Motive
Personal resentment against John Lennon and a desire to emulate Holden Caulfield[1][2]
On the evening of 8 December 1980, English musician John Lennon, formerly of the Beatles, was shot and fatally wounded in the archway of the Dakota, his residence in New York City. The killer, Mark David Chapman, was an American Beatles fan who was jealous and enraged by Lennon's lifestyle, alongside his 1966 comment that the Beatles were "more popular than Jesus". Chapman said he was inspired by the fictional character Holden Caulfield from J. D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye, a "phony-killer" who loathes hypocrisy.
Chapman planned the killing over several months and waited for Lennon at the Dakota on the morning of 8 December. Early in the evening, Chapman met Lennon, who signed his copy of the album Double Fantasy and subsequently left for a recording session at the Record Plant. Later that night, Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, returned to the Dakota. As Lennon and Ono approached the entrance of the building, Chapman fired five hollow-point bullets from a .38 special revolver, four of which hit Lennon in the back. Lennon was rushed to Roosevelt Hospital in a police car, where he was pronounced dead on arrival at 11:15 p.m. at age 40. Chapman remained at the scene reading The Catcher in the Rye until he was arrested by the police. It was later discovered that Chapman considered Lennon's friend David Bowie a target.[3]
A worldwide outpouring of grief ensued; crowds gathered at Roosevelt Hospital and in front of the Dakota, and at least three Beatles fans died by suicide.[4] The day following the murder, Lennon was cremated at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York. In lieu of a funeral, Ono requested ten minutes of silence around the world. Chapman pleaded guilty to murdering Lennon and was given a sentence of twenty-years-to-life imprisonment. He has been denied parole thirteen times since he became eligible in 2000.
^Gaines, James R. (9 March 1987). "Mark Chapman Part III: the Killer Takes His Fall". People Magazine. Vol. 27, no. 10. Archived from the original on 20 December 2021. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
^March 4, 1966: The Beginning of the End for John Lennon? Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine Lynne H. Schultz, 2001. Retrieved 26 December 2006.
^Doggett, Peter (2012). The Man Who Sold the World: David Bowie and the 1970s. New York City: HarperCollins. p. 389. ISBN 978-0-06-202466-4. Archived from the original on 15 January 2023. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
^Rothman, Lily (8 December 2015). "How the World Reacted to John Lennon's Death 35 Years Ago". Time. Archived from the original on 11 October 2023. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
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