The Assasination of John Lennon

John Lennon is still remembered today as the great musician he was. His murder was a shock to everyone around the world. On December 8, 1980, John Lennon was coming back from the Record Planet Studio where he and his wife, Yoko Ono, finished recording there mix song “Walking on Thin Ice”. Yoko Ono walked on ahead of him to enter the building they lived in, The Dakota in New York City. Lennon was shot four times by Mark David Chapman, a security guard from Hawaii, who had been waiting patiently for their arrival. Employees of the hotel rushed to help the wounded star, and called the police. Officers immediately carried John into their car and urgently rushed to Roosevelt Hospital. When they arrived John didn’t have a pulse and was not breathing. For the next twenty minutes the doctors attempted to manually restore circulation, but did not succeed. John Lennon was pronounced dead at 11:15pm.

Hours before murdering John Lennon, Mark David Chapman waited outside the apartment building. He waited along with a crowd of fans wanting an autograph or just to say hi. Chapman handed Lennon a copy of Double Fantasy, he signed it and continued with his day. After shooting John Lennon, Mark had his gun kicked away from him by an employee and he proceeded to remove his coat and hat and waited patiently for the police on the curb. Officers found him sitting there with a copy of “The Catcher in the Rye”. In court he pleaded guilty against the wishes of his lawyers who wanted to file an insanity plea. He was sentenced to a life sentence becoming eligible for parole after 20 years. He still remains in Wende Correctional Facility, and has been denied parole since then.