Just two months after his 40th birthday, John Lennon was murdered by Mark David Chapman, outside his home at the Dakota Apartment building on the northwestern corner of 72nd Street and Central Park West in New York. After approaching the former Beatle and calling his name, Chapman dropped into a combat stance and shot John in his chest, back and left arm. Lennon staggered into the porters’ vestibule in a desperate attempt to get upstairs to see his son, Sean. As he collapsed, John was comforted by porter Jay Hastings, who covered him with his jacket and gently removed his glasses. Hastings would later say that Lennon’s last words were, “I’m shot!” Police were quickly summoned and took John to Roosevelt Hospital on West Fifty-ninth St. Although doctors did everything they could to save him, John Lennon was pronounced dead at 11:07 PM. A sobbing Yoko cried “Oh no, no, no, no… tell me it’s not true,” and was led away in shock.
After the shooting, the 24-year-old Chapman remained at the scene, took out his copy of The Catcher in the Rye and read it until the police arrived. He was arrested without incident. “He actually apologized to us,” one bystander would later say. “He said: ‘Gee, I’m sorry I ruined your night.’ And I said, ‘You gotta be kidding me. You just ruined your whole life.’”
Much of America learned of the tragedy from ABC-TV, which was in the midst of airing an NFL game between the Miami Dolphins and the New England Patriots on Monday Night Football. Announcer Howard Cosell, who had interviewed Lennon years earlier, announced the news of the murder: “This, we have to say it, is just a football game, no matter who wins or loses. An unspeakable tragedy, confirmed to us by ABC News in New York City. John Lennon, outside of his apartment building on the West Side of New York City, the most famous perhaps of all of The Beatles, shot twice in the back, rushed to Roosevelt Hospital, dead on arrival.”
When asked why he decided to target Lennon, Chapman said he couldn’t resist the fame that would come with the crime. “That bright light of fame, of infamy, notoriety was there,” he said. “I couldn’t resist it.”
Years later, Paul McCartney referred to Chapman as, “the jerk of all jerks”.
The day after John Lennon was murdered, Yoko Ono issued a statement to the press that read: “There is no funeral for John. John loved and prayed for the human race. Please do the same for him. Love, Yoko and Sean.” She also pleaded with chanting and singing mourners outside The Dakota to re-convene in Central Park the following Sunday for ten minutes of silent prayer. Meanwhile, Paul went into a recording studio to clear his head. He reportedly told his guitarist, Denny Laine, “I’m never gonna fall out with anybody again, just in case this happens.”