John Lennon Shot Dead: Music Loses a Legend

Mark David Chapman fired five hollow-point bullets into John Lennon's back as the former Beatle walked through the archway of the Dakota apartment building in New York City on the evening of December 8, 1980. Four rounds struck Lennon, severing major arteries. He was rushed to Roosevelt Hospital in a police car but was pronounced dead on arrival at 11:07 p.m. He was 40 years old. Lennon had spent the day at the Record Plant studio working on tracks for "Walking on Thin Ice" with Yoko Ono. Earlier that afternoon, Chapman had approached Lennon outside the Dakota and asked him to sign a copy of the Double Fantasy album. Lennon obliged. Photographer Paul Goresh captured the moment, producing one of the most haunting images in rock history: the victim autographing an album for his killer. Chapman then waited for five hours in the shadows of the archway. The murder sent shockwaves through a generation that had grown up with the Beatles. Thousands gathered in Central Park's Strawberry Fields in the days that followed, holding vigils and singing Lennon's songs. Ono asked for ten minutes of silence on December 14, and an estimated 100,000 people gathered in Central Park while millions more observed the silence worldwide. Radio stations played all-Beatles and all-Lennon programming for days. Chapman pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 20 years to life. He told investigators he had been inspired by J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye" and wanted to become famous. He has been denied parole repeatedly and remains incarcerated. Lennon's death at 40 froze his legacy at its most idealistic moment, transforming the man who wrote "Imagine" into a permanent symbol of peace and the cost of senseless violence. Strawberry Fields in Central Park was dedicated in his memory in 1985.