John Lennon Murdered - December 8th 1980

AN UNPREPOSSESSING LONER and college dropout, Mark David Chapman had reached the end of the line by the time he went to New York with a pistol in December 1980. He had suffered a nervous breakdown, and had also tried to take his own life three years earlier. In Chapman's distorted view of the world now, someone would have to perish for his own existence to be meaningful. And tragically, that someone was former-Beatle John Lennon. The multitalented singer-songwriter had witnessed a steady increase in his personal and artistic fortunes as the year drew to a close, and was returning home to New York's Dakota Building from the studio on the night of 8th December 1980. He was accompanied by his wife, Yoko Ono, and as the couple approached the entrance of their residence, Chapman appeared and blasted away at the star. Lennon was taken quickly to Roosevelt Hospital, but was pronounced dead on arrival. Chapman stayed at the crime scene poring over a copy of Catcher in the Rye. Fans celebrated Lennon with a candlelit vigil held outside the Dakota Building that night. The tragedy was a grief-laden occasion, a moment when people all over the globe mourned the passing of one of music's most noble sons, a trailblazer who had charmed millions. Chapman pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to life.

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