Former Beatle John Lennon has been shot dead December 8th, 1980, by a gunman he did not know, who opened fire outside the musician's New York apartment. The 40-year-old Lennon was shot several times as he entered the Dakota, his luxury apartment building on Manhattan's Upper West Side, opposite Central Park, at 23:00 local time. He was rushed in a police car to St Luke's Roosevelt Hospital Center, where he died.
John Lennon was shot four times in the back by Mark Chapman who had asked the former Beatle for his autograph only hours before he laid in wait, and killed him. Chapman pleaded guilty to gunning down John Lennon and is currently serving life in Attica Prison near New York. He said he had heard voices in his head telling him to kill the world-famous musician...
So many years after his death millions of fans are still paying tribute to John Lennon in New York, as well in his home town of Liverpool.