John Lennon was shot and killed by Mark Chapman (Image: AP)
Nearly 46 years ago, one of the most celebrated and influential musicians in history was murdered by a deranged fan who shot him four times, permanently altering the music landscape and entertainment world.
The iconic musician was none other than English singer-songwriter John Winston Ono Lennon, and the perpetrator, Mark David Chapman.
The former Beatles frontman was shot and killed by Chapman on December 8, 1980, outside his New York City residence, the Dakota, aged just 40. Lennon is survived by his wife, Yoko Ono, and his two sons, Julian and Sean Lennon.
Lennon spent much of his life under public scrutiny, with every action by the Beatles star examined and transformed into headlines. Tragically, his death was equally public, with Chapman firing shots outside Lennon’s Manhattan flat, directly in full view of bystanders.
The disturbing details of the music legend’s post-mortem examination are deeply unsettling, while the final day of his life – one that began as unremarkably as any other – descended into his worst nightmare, and the world’s, in moments, reports the Daily Star.
John Lennon was assassinated on December 8, 1980. (Image: Getty Images)
The fateful day
On the fateful day of 8 December 1980, Lennon and Ono shot a cover for Rolling Stone magazine with world-renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz. Leibovitz had photographed the entertainment industry’s controversial ‘it couple’ at their NYC home, and the images from that session – featuring a completely nude Lennon with his body wrapped around a fully clothed Ono – were subsequently named one of the finest magazine covers of the preceding 40 years by the American Society of Magazine Editors.
Speaking to Rolling Stone in 2004, Ono said of that cover shoot: “We were feeling comfortable because it was Annie, whom we respected and trusted, so John seemed not to have any problem taking off his clothes.”
Following the magazine cover shoot, Lennon also sat down for an interview with RKO Radio before departing for Record Plant recording studio in New York City.
In a chilling twist orchestrated by Chapman himself, prior to leaving for Record Plant, Lennon actually autographed a copy of his Double Fantasy album for Chapman right outside his own home.
The music legend’s final moments tell a heartbreaking story (Image: Getty Images)
This haunting encounter was captured on film by fan and photographer Paul Goresh, who managed to preserve for posterity the precise moment Lennon stood alongside Chapman, making his image the last photograph ever taken of John Lennon.
Goresh revealed to NJ.com in 2015 that Ono had approached him requesting the photographs he had taken of Lennon and Chapman. A month after Lennon’s assassination, in an open letter addressed to fans and published in major newspapers like The New York Times and The Washington Post, Ono heartbreakingly shared: “I saw the photo where he signed the autograph. It was flashed on TV again and again. Somehow that photo was harder for me to look at than the death photo.
“John was in a hurry that afternoon. He did not have to give his autograph but he did, while the man watched him, the man who was to betray John later.”
After Chapman obtained his album copy signed by the Beatle and Goresh captured the moment on camera, Lennon and Yoko departed for Record Plant. Several hours later, the couple arrived home by limousine, stepped out of the vehicle, and began making their way towards the Dakota’s archway.
John Lennon shot to unprecedented fame as part of the legendary band The Beatles (Image: Michael Ochs Archives)
Unbeknownst to them, Chapman was lying in wait at the building’s entrance, and at approximately 10.50pm, Lennon was shot at five times by Chapman.
The killer discharged five hollow-point bullets at Lennon from a. 38 Special revolver, four of which struck their target in Lennon’s back and shoulder, inflicting fatal wounds upon the musician.
According to eyewitness Jay Hastings, the concierge of Dakota who was stationed at the front desk of Lennon’s apartment block, the singer’s final words were allegedly ‘I’m shot’ – a cry of pain mere moments before he collapsed and fell to the ground.
In the Apple TV Series Lennon: Murder Without a Trial, Jay shared: “He [Lennon] runs past me. He goes, ‘I’m shot.’ He had blood coming out of his mouth. He collapsed on the floor. I half rolled him to his back and took his glasses off, put them on the desk. And Yoko was screaming, ‘Get an ambulance, get an ambulance, get an ambulance!'”.
Lennon was rushed to Roosevelt Hospital in a police car, but tragically, the music icon was pronounced dead on arrival at 11.15pm.
Mark David Chapman openly confessed to assassinating John Lennon (Image: AFP/Getty Images)
A closer look at John Lennon’s killer
Chapman, meanwhile, stayed at the scene of the shooting, coolly reading The Catcher in the Rye until police apprehended him. The killer is believed to have drawn inspiration from JD Salinger’s bestselling novel, particularly the fictional character of Holden Caulfield, a ‘phony killer’ harbouring a profound contempt for society’s hypocrisy.
Shortly afterwards, Chapman confessed to shooting Lennon at the scene of the crime, later telling a parole board he was a Beatles fan ‘seeking fame’.
Chapman, an evangelical Christian, told a journalist years later from his prison cell that he was ‘angry at [Lennon] for saying [in the song God] that he didn’t believe in God, that he just believed in him and Yoko, and that he didn’t believe in the Beatles. ‘.
Mark Chapman (pictured) said he was ‘seeking fame’ and that’s why he killed John Lennon (Image: AFP/Getty Images)
Chapman was also reportedly angered by a remark Lennon made in 1966 when the music legend declared that the Beatles were ‘more popular than Jesus’. In August 2022, during his 12th parole hearing, Chapman told a board that his decision to kill Lennon was his ‘big answer to everything’.
According to AP News, Lennon’s killer said: “This was evil in my heart. I wanted to be somebody and nothing was going to stop that.
“I wasn’t going to be a nobody, anymore. I am not going to blame anything else or anybody else for bringing me there. 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.”
Chapman has been refused parole 14 times, with the most recent hearing having taken place in August 2025. He is currently serving 20-years-to-life at the Green Haven Correctional Facility, north of New York City, according to online state corrections records.
John Lennon’s horrific autopsy report tells a chilling story about his final excruciating moments (Image: Michael Ochs Archives)
His next parole hearing is scheduled for February 2027.
The harrowing autopsy report
Lennon’s disturbing autopsy report laid bare the devastating injuries he sustained in his final moments. Two days after his assassination, NYC medical examiner Dr Elliot Gross noted that Lennon was ‘essentially pulseless’ upon his arrival at Roosevelt Hospital.
The Washington Post reported that Gross attributed the singer’s death to ‘massive haemorrhaging and shock’ resulting from the fatal gunshot wounds. According to the harrowing post-mortem report, two bullets pierced Lennon’s left lung before passing through his chest.
One bullet punctured his left lung before lodging in his neck, while another entered through his shoulder and struck his left arm bone.
Gross stated: “Death occurred within a very short time.”
The fifth bullet fired by Chapman missed Lennon entirely and shattered a window of The Dakota instead.
