On the night of 8 December 1980, English musician John Lennon, formerly of the Beatles, was fatally shot in the archway of The Dakota, his residence in Manhattan, New York City. The shooter, Mark David Chapman, was an American Beatles fanatic who was envious and enraged by Lennon's lifestyle. Chapman was also inspired by the fictional character Holden Caulfield from J. D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye, which features a "phony-killer" who loathes hypocrisy.
Chapman planned the murder over several months. Earlier in the day, he had met Lennon, who signed his copy of the album Double Fantasy as Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, were leaving for a recording session at the Record Plant. Later that night when the couple returned home, Chapman, still waiting at the building's entrance, 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. Chapman remained at the scene of the shooting reading The Catcher in the Rye until he was arrested by police.
The murder triggered a worldwide outpouring of grief, with crowds gathering outside Roosevelt Hospital and the Dakota. The day after the murder, Lennon was cremated at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York. In lieu of a funeral, Ono requested 10 minutes of silence around the world on 14 December. Chapman pleaded guilty to murdering Lennon and was given a sentence of 20 years to life imprisonment; he has been denied parole multiple times after becoming eligible in 2000.
Background Mark David Chapman
Mark David Chapman, a 25-year-old former security guard from Honolulu, Hawaii, with no prior criminal convictions, was a fan of the Beatles. J. D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye (1951) had taken on great personal significance for Chapman, to the extent that he wished to model his life after the novel's protagonist, Holden Caulfield. One of the novel's main themes is Caulfield's rage against adult hypocrisy and "phonies". Chapman said that he had been enraged by Lennon's much-publicized remark in 1966 that the Beatles were "more popular than Jesus", and by the lyrics of Lennon's songs "God" (in which Lennon states that he does not believe in the Beatles, God, or Jesus) and "Imagine", where Lennon states "imagine no possessions", despite having a lavish lifestyle (as depicted in Anthony Fawcett's 1976 book John Lennon: One Day at a Time). Chapman concluded that the latter made Lennon a "phony".
On 27 October 1980, Chapman purchased a five-shot revolver, manufactured by Charter Arms and chambered in .38 Special, in Honolulu. He flew to New York City two days later after contacting the Federal Aviation Administration to learn the best way to transport a revolver. Chapman learned that bullets could be damaged during air travel, so he did not bring ammunition on the flight. Chapman left New York on 12 or 13 November, then flew back on 6 December and checked into a YMCA on the Upper West Side for a night before moving to a Sheraton hotel in Midtown Manhattan.
8 December 1980 Chapman waited for Lennon outside the Dakota in the early morning and spent most of the day near the entrance to the building, talking to fans and the doorman. That morning, Chapman was distracted and missed seeing Lennon step out of a taxi and enter the Dakota. Later in the morning, Chapman met Lennon's family nanny, Helen Seaman, who was returning from a walk with Lennon's five-year-old son, Sean. Chapman reached in front of the housekeeper to shake Sean's hand and said that he was a beautiful boy, quoting Lennon's song "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)".
Annie Leibovitz, a portrait photographer, arrived at Lennon's apartment for a photo shoot intended for Rolling Stone magazine. Leibovitz assured Lennon and Ono that a photograph of the two of them naked together would make the front cover of the magazine. She captured several images of Lennon by himself, with one set to be on the cover. Although Ono was initially reluctant to pose nude, Lennon insisted that both he and his wife be on the cover, and after taking the pictures, Leibovitz left their apartment at 3:30 p.m. After the photo shoot, Lennon gave what would be his last interview, to San Francisco disc jockey Dave Sholin, writer Laurie Kaye, and recorder/producer Ron Hummel for a music show to be broadcast on the RKO Radio Network. At around 5:00 p.m., Lennon and Ono, delayed by a late limousine shared with the RKO Radio crew, left their apartment to mix the song "Walking on Thin Ice", an Ono song featuring Lennon on lead guitar, at the Record Plant.
As they left the building, Lennon and Ono were approached by Chapman, who asked for Lennon's autograph on a copy of his recently released album, Double Fantasy (1980). Lennon liked to give autographs or pictures, especially to those who had been waiting for long periods of time to meet him. Later, Chapman said, "He was very kind to me. Ironically, very kind and was very patient with me. The limousine was waiting... and he took his time with me and he got the pen going and he signed my album. He asked me if I needed anything else. I said, 'No. No sir.' And he walked away. Very cordial and decent man." Paul Goresh, an amateur photographer and Lennon fan, took a photo of Lennon signing Chapman's album.
Shooting
The Lennons returned to the Dakota around 10:50 p.m. Lennon wanted to say goodnight to Sean before going to the Stage Deli restaurant with Ono. The Lennons exited their limousine on 72nd Street instead of driving into the more secure courtyard of the Dakota. They passed Chapman as they walked toward the archway entrance of the building. As they passed Chapman, Lennon glanced briefly at Chapman, seemingly recognizing him from earlier that day. Seconds later, Chapman drew his revolver from his coat pocket, aimed it at the center of Lennon's back, and fired five hollow-point bullets from a distance of approximately . An eyewitness reported that Chapman called out "Mr. Lennon" and assumed a combat stance before firing."Police Trace Tangled Path Leading to Lennon's Slaying at the Dakota" by Paul L. Montgomery, The_New_York_Times, December 10, 1980, pp. A1, B6 [quotes attributed by the newspaper to NYPD Chief of Detectives James T. Sullivan regarding an unnamed witness] Chapman confirmed the combat stance in a 1992 interview with Barbara Walters, "I pulled the .38 revolver out of my pocket and I went into what's called a combat stance and I fired at his back five steady shots". but testified at his 2008 parole hearing that he did not call out to Lennon.
According to the autopsy, two bullets entered the left side of Lennon's back, with one exiting through his chest and lung and the other lodging in his neck, and two more bullets hit his left shoulder. Lennon, bleeding profusely from his external wounds and from his mouth, staggered up five steps to the lobby, crying, "I'm shot! I'm shot!" He then fell to the floor, scattering the cassettes he had been carrying.
José Perdomo, the doorman, shook the revolver out of Chapman's hand and kicked it across the pavement. Concierge worker Jay Hastings first started to make a tourniquet, but upon ripping open Lennon's blood-stained shirt and realizing the severity of his injuries, he covered Lennon's chest with his uniform jacket, removed his blood-covered glasses, and summoned the police. Chapman removed his coat and hat to show that he was not carrying any concealed weapons and remained standing on 72nd Street, waiting for police to arrive. Underneath his coat, he wore a promotional T-shirt for Todd Rundgren's album Hermit of Mink Hollow. Perdomo shouted at Chapman, "Do you know what you just did?", to which Chapman calmly replied, "I just shot John Lennon."
Officers Steven Spiro and Peter Cullen were the first policemen to arrive at the scene; they were at 72nd Street and Broadway when they heard a report of shots fired at the Dakota. The officers arrived about two minutes after the shooting and found Chapman standing very calmly on 72nd Street reading a paperback copy of The Catcher in the Rye. They immediately put Chapman in handcuffs and placed him in the back seat of their squad car. Chapman made no attempt to flee or resist arrest. Cullen said of Chapman: "He apologized to us for ruining our night. I turned around and said to him, 'You've got to be fucking kidding me. You're worried about our night? Do you know what you just did to your life?' We read him his rights more than once."
Officers Herb Frauenberger and Tony Palma were the second team to arrive on the scene. They found Lennon lying face down on the floor of the lobby, blood pouring from his mouth and his clothing already soaked with it, with Hastings attending to him. Officers James Moran and Bill Gamble soon arrived as well. Frauenberger put Lennon in Moran and Gamble's car, concluding his condition was too serious to wait for an ambulance to arrive. Moran and Gamble then drove Lennon to Roosevelt Hospital on West 59th Street, followed by Frauenberger and Palma, who drove Ono to that location. According to Gamble, in the car, Moran questioned Lennon regarding his identity. Lennon nodded, but could only manage to make a moaning and gurgling sound when he tried to speak, and lost consciousness shortly thereafter.
Resuscitation attempt and death
A few minutes before 11:00 p.m., Moran arrived at Roosevelt Hospital with Lennon in his squad car. Moran carried Lennon on his back and placed him onto a gurney, demanding a doctor for a multiple gunshot wound victim. When Lennon was brought in, he was not breathing and had no pulse. Three doctors, a nurse, and two or three other medical attendants worked on Lennon for 10 to 20 minutes in an attempt to resuscitate him. As a last resort, the doctors cut open his chest and attempted a resuscitative thoracotomy to restore circulation, but they quickly discovered that the damage to the blood vessels above and around Lennon's heart from the bullet wounds was too great.
Three of the four bullets that struck Lennon's back passed completely through his body and out of his chest, while the fourth lodged itself in his aorta beside his heart. One of the exiting bullets from Lennon's chest hit and became lodged in his upper left arm. Several of the wounds could have been fatal by themselves because each bullet had ruptured vital arteries around the heart. Lennon was shot four times at close range with hollow-point bullets and his affected organs—particularly his left lung and major blood vessels above his heart—were virtually destroyed upon impact.
Reports regarding who operated on and attempted to resuscitate Lennon have been inconsistent. Stephan Lynn, the head of the Emergency Department at Roosevelt Hospital, is usually credited with performing Lennon's surgery. In 2005, Lynn said that he massaged Lennon's heart and attempted to resuscitate him for 20 minutes, that two other doctors were present, and that the three of them declared Lennon's death. Richard Marks, an emergency room surgeon at Roosevelt Hospital, stated in 1990 that he operated on Lennon, administered a "massive" blood transfusion, and provided heart massage to no avail. "When I realized he wasn't going to make it," said Marks, "I just sewed him back up. I felt helpless." David Halleran, who had been a third-year general surgery resident at Roosevelt Hospital, disputed the accounts of both Marks and Lynn. In 2015, Halleran stated that the two doctors "didn't do anything", and that he did not initially realize the identity of the victim. He added that Lynn only came to assist him when he heard that the victim was Lennon.