Who Shot John Lennon?
Mark David Chapman (R) murdered John Lennon outside the Dakota apartment building on New York’s (NY) Upper West Side on December 8, 1980 just before 11PM. The ex-Beatle was pronounced dead shortly thereafter at 11:15PM.Chapman, a deranged 25-year-old former security guard from Hawaii, shot Lennon five times at close range at the entrance to the Dakota. Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono were returning after taping a radio interview and participating in a photo session for Rolling Stone. "'He was angry that Lennon would preach love and peace but yet have millions [of dollars],' said his wife Gloria. Chapman later said that 'He told us to imagine no possessions, and there he was, with millions of dollars and yachts and farms and country estates, laughing at people like me who had believed the lies and bought the records and built a big part of their lives around his music.' "At some point, Chapman became obsessed with Catcher in the Rye after rereading it for the first time since high school. He was particularly influenced by protagonist Holden Caulfield's polemics against 'phoniness' in society, and the need to protect people, especially children. He was holding a copy of the book when he murdered Lennon, in which he had written 'This is my statement.'" —Wikipedia Chapman was sentenced to 20-years-to-life and remanded to the Attica (NY) Correctional Facility. He has repeatedly been denied parole and cannot try again until 2012. John Lennon would have been 70 years old on the 30th anniversary of his death, December 8th, 2010.
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