Mark David Chapman - The Murder of John Lennon

The Murder of John Lennon

On Monday, December 8, 1980, Chapman bought a copy of The Catcher in the Rye from a New York book store, in which he wrote "This is my statement" and signed it "Holden Caulfield", the name of the protagonist of the novel. He then spent most of the day near the entrance to The Dakota apartment building where Lennon and Yoko Ono lived, talking to other fans and the doorman. Early in the morning, a distracted Chapman missed seeing Lennon step out of a cab and enter the Dakota building. Late in the morning, Chapman met Lennon's housekeeper, who had just taken their five-year-old son Sean for a walk. 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)".

Around 5:00 pm, Lennon and Ono left The Dakota for a recording session at Record Plant Studios. As they walked toward their limousine on the curb, Chapman shook hands with Lennon and held out a copy of Lennon's new album, Double Fantasy, for him to sign. Photographer Paul Goresh was present when Lennon signed Chapman's album and took a photo of the event. Chapman reported that, "At that point my big part won and I wanted to go back to my hotel, but I couldn't. I waited until he came back. He knew where the ducks went in winter, and I needed to know this" (a reference to The Catcher in the Rye because it is what Holden wonders throughout the story).

Around 10:49 pm, the Lennons' limousine returned to the Dakota. At the curb, Lennon and Ono got out, passed by Chapman and walked toward the archway entrance of the building's courtyard. From the street behind them, Chapman fired five hollow point bullets from a .38 special revolver, four of which hit Lennon in the back and left shoulder. The death certificate officially gives the following description of the wounds and cause of death: "Multiple gunshot wounds of left shoulder and chest; Left lung and left subclavian artery; External and internal hemorrhage. Shock."

There was an isolated newspaper claim at the time that, before firing, Chapman softly called out "Mr. Lennon" and dropped into a "combat stance"; Chapman has said he doesn't recall saying anything and Lennon did not turn around.

Chapman remained at the scene, took out his copy of The Catcher in the Rye and read it until the police arrived. The New York City Police Department officers who first responded to the shooting, recognizing that Lennon's wounds were severe, decided to transport him in their police car to Roosevelt Hospital. Chapman was arrested without incident. In his statement to police three hours later, Chapman stated, "I’m sure the large part of me is Holden Caulfield, who is the main person in the book. The small part of me must be the Devil." Lennon was pronounced dead at 11:07 pm at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center.