Murder of John Lennon

Murder of John Lennon
The archway of The Dakota, where the attack happened, pictured here in 2009
Location	Manhattan, New York City, US
Date	8 December 1980; 44 years ago (1980-12-08) 10:50pm (US Eastern time (UTC−05:00))
Target	John Lennon
Attack type	Murder by shooting, assassination
Weapon	Charter Arms Undercover .38 Special revolver
Victim	John Lennon
Perpetrator	Mark David Chapman

On 8 December 1980, musician John Lennon was shot and killed by Mark David Chapman. It happened outside the Dakota in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City. Chapman lived in Hawaii and had travelled to New York to kill Lennon. Chapman said he was annoyed at how lazy Lennon's lifestyle was and was also annoyed about that Lennon had said The Beatles were "more popular than Jesus".^[1][2]

Chapman was arrested soon after the shooting and was charged with murder. Chapman pleaded guilty to Lennon's murder and was sentenced to 20-years-to-life in prison. Chapman could have had parole ten times since 2000, but was never accepted. He is still in prison today.^[3]

References

1. Jones, Jack (November 1992). Let Me Take You Down: Inside the Mind of Mark David Chapman, the Man Who Killed John Lennon. Villard Books. p. 118. ISBN 0-8129-9170-2.
2. Gaines, J.R. (1981) The Life and Crime of Mark David Chapman Archived 2018-08-13 at the Wayback Machine June 22, 1981 Vol. 15 No. 24
3. Coleman, Terry (25 August 1981). "Lennon's killer to serve twenty years". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 July 2020.