A look back at local, national and world events through Deseret News archives.
On Dec. 8, 1980, rock star and former Beatle John Lennon was shot to death outside his New York City apartment building by Mark David Chapman.
That evening, per Associated Press reports, the world-famous musician was with his wife, Yoko Ono, outside the Dakota apartments on Manhattan’s Upper West Side at about 10:50 p.m., “when a man approached them and fired five shots from a .38-caliber pistol. Lennon yelled ‘I’m shot’ and staggered up a few steps into the building and collapsed.”
Many learned of the singer’s death while watching “Monday Night Football.”
Now, every anniversary in Central Park’s Strawberry Fields section, just steps from where he was shot, photos of the icon ring the inlaid “Imagine” mosaic, along with a magazine, a small tree and other memorabilia, as musicians play nearby.
The mourners still come.
In 2022, Chapman was denied parole for the 12th time.
The 67-year-old prisoner, serving a 20-years-to-life sentence at Green Haven Correctional Facility in New York, was once again denied parole in August. The parole board has decided to keep Chapman behind bars every two years since he was first eligible for parole in 2000.
And just this month, Lennon’s song, “Happy Xmas (War is Over),” is back on both the Official Streaming chart and the main ranking of the most-consumed songs in the U.K.
Ono, now 91, reportedly lives on a farm in upstate New York and has withdrawn from public life, according to her family.
Besides Lennon, George Harrison, The Beatles’ lead guitarist, died of cancer in 2001.
Paul McCartney, the bass guitarist and also vocalist and songwriter, still performs. Ringo Starr, the group’s drummer, also still performs.
Here are some stories from Deseret News archives about Lennon’s death, his life and time with Ono, and his killer:
“Fans remember John Lennon 30 years after his death”
“Lennon’s slaying marked end of an era, Utahn says”
“John Lennon: Remembering a dreamer ...”
“John Lennon was wrong, but right at the same time”
“Lennon yearned to see son in minutes before slaying”
“Like a cloud, beautiful sound: The art of John Lennon”
