Today in History – December 8: Obsessive fan asks music superstar for autograph then shoots him dead
The murder of Beatles legend John Lennon on December 8, 1980, sent shockwaves around the world.
The legendary musician and his wife Yoko Ono were returning to their apartment in the Dakota building in New York’s Upper West Side when Mark David Chapman shot Lennon with a .38-calibre handgun.
The former security guard fired five bullets and hit the superstar in the back four times.
Crowds gather outside the Dakota apartment building in New York after John Lennon’s murder on December 8, 1980. (AP)John Lennon, far right, was a member of the famous British rock band, the Beatles. (Getty)
Lennon was rushed to Roosevelt Hospital in a police car, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Lennon had been returning from his final recording when he was killed. He was 40 years old.
After the shooting, Chapman sat down on a nearby curb and read the novel The Catcher in the Rye until he was arrested by police.
Hours before he shot Lennon, Chapman had asked the singer to autograph a copy of the album Double Fantasy, recorded with Ono.
Lennon’s assassin later recalled how pleasant the famous singer and songwriter had been during their exchange.
A file handout photo released by the New York State Department of Correctional Services dated July 2010 at Attica Prison shows Mark David Chapman, who was convicted of murdering John Lennon outside Lennon’s Manhattan apartment in December 1980 (EPA/NYSDOCS / HO HANDOUT )
“He was very kind to me. Ironically, very kind and was very patient with me,” Chapman said.
“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.”
But Chapman, who had struggled with depression and other mental health challenges throughout his life leading up to Lennon’s killing, was obsessed by fame and was determined to make his mark on history.
“I knew what I was doing, and I knew it was evil, I knew it was wrong, but I wanted the fame so much that I was willing to give everything and take a human life,” he told a 2022 parole board hearing.
Police later discovered Chapman had a hit list of other celebrities he considered killing, including Oscar-winning actors Elizabeth Taylor and George C Scott, Lennon’s former Beatles bandmate Paul McCartney and US chat show host Johnny Carson.
Former Beatle John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono in August 1980, just months before the death of the former Beatle. (Photo by Vinnie Zuffante/Getty Images) (Getty)
But he zeroed in on Lennon, largely due to his accessibility and lack of security.
Chapman pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in June 1981.
He was sentenced two months later to a 20-years-to-life sentence at Green Haven Correctional Facility in New York.
Lennon’s murder triggered an outpouring of grief across the world.
Days after his killing, 100,000 people attended a short vigil in New York’s Central Park, while a memorial concert in Lennon’s home city of Liverpool in north-west England attracted 30,000 fans.
In August 2025, Chapman was denied bail for a 14th time by New York prison officials.
Lennon was a member of the Beatles from 1960 until around 1969 when he left the group to go solo.
The band broke up in 1970.
The Fab Four have had more number one albums on the British charts and sold more singles than any other band.
