The first NYPD officers to arrive on the scene were Steve Spiro and Peter Cullen, who had been on patrol at Broadway and 72nd Street when the first calls about the shooting came through. Upon their arrival they drew their guns and shouted “Put your hands up” at the Dakota’s duty concierge Jay Hastings, who was kneeling by John Lennon and was covered in blood. “Not him,” Perdomo told them. “He works here. He’s the one,” he said, pointing to Mark Chapman.
Spiro and Cullen forced Chapman against a wall of the Dakota building, searching him for concealed weapons. “Don’t hurt me, stay with me,” he asked the officers. The search revealed keys, the copy of The Catcher In The Rye, and a wallet containing $2,000 in cash. Spiro handcuffed Chapman, and Perdomo recovered the gun and handed it to his co-worker.
Fellow officers Bill Gamble and James Moran arrived and, seeing that the suspect was under control, rushed inside the Dakota. Against Yoko Ono’s wishes, Gamble turned over Lennon’s body to determine the extent of his injuries. “What is your name?” he asked. Although he struggled to reply, John eventually managed to say: “Lennon”.
Realising that his injuries were too severe to wait for an ambulance, Gamble and Moran carried Lennon to their car. Moran took Lennon legs and Gamble carried him by his underarms, and they placed him on the back seat. Gamble kneeled by his side as Moran drove at 50mph speeds to the nearest emergency hospital, St Luke’s Roosevelt on West 59th Street.
Gamble attempted to keep Lennon conscious by talking to him. “Are you sure you’re John Lennon?” he asked. “I am,” came the reply. “How do you feel?” “I’m in pain,” he is reported to have said.
Moran had contacted the hospital as he drove. Behind them was another police car, driven by Officer Anthony Palmer and containing an increasingly hysterical Ono.
Upon their arrival at the hospital a rolling stretcher was waiting. Medical director Dr Stephan Lynn took Lennon into the emergency room, while Ono called the Dakota to check on their son Sean’s safety. Lennon had no pulse and wasn’t breathing, but for 20 minutes Lynn and two other doctors opened his chest and attempted manual heart massage to try and restore circulation.
Despite the hospital’s attempts, including blood transfusions and surgery by highly-trained staff, they were unable to save him. Dr Lynn pronounced John Lennon dead on arrival in the emergency room at the Roosevelt Hospital at 11.07pm on 8 December 1980.
Lynn informed Ono at 11.15pm. “He never stood a chance,” he said. “Nothing we were able to do could revive your husband. We believe the first bullet killed him. It ripped through John’s chest causing irreparable damage to a major artery.” In a state of shock, Ono asked him: “Do you mean that he is sleeping?”
The cause of death was reported as hypovolemic shock, caused by the loss of more than 80% of blood volume. The hollow-point bullets used by Chapman expanded upon entering the body, causing irreparable damage to Lennon’s organs.
The news of Lennon’s death broke on WABC TV’s Monday Night Football. The producer, Bob Goodrich, told host Howard Cosell, who announced it on-air during a televised match between the New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins.
Remember this 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 the Roosevelt Hospital, dead on arrival.
NBC announced the news during The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson; the show was interrupted by a news bulletin. On CBS Lennon’s death was reported by Walter Cronkite and reporters.
At the Record Plant Studio, producer Jack Douglas had continued work on ‘Walking On Thin Ice’. His wife informed him of Lennon’s death at 11.35pm. The news sent him into a state of shock, and he decided to wipe the tapes of studio banter between him and Lennon recorded that day. He has never revealed the precise nature of their conversations.
Also on this day...
- 2010: Tributes held worldwide to mark 30 years of John Lennon’s passing
- 1979: Wings live: Wembley Arena, London
- 1974: George Harrison live: Forum, Montreal
- 1969: Recording: Octopus’s Garden
- 1967: UK EP release: Magical Mystery Tour
- 1966: Recording, editing: When I’m Sixty-Four, Strawberry Fields Forever
- 1965: The Beatles live: Gaumont Cinema, Sheffield
- 1964: George Harrison visits Ringo Starr in hospital
- 1963: The Beatles live: Odeon Cinema, Lewisham
- 1962: The Beatles live: Oasis Club, Manchester
- 1961: The Beatles live: Tower Ballroom, New Brighton, Wallasey
- 1961: The Beatles live: Cavern Club, Liverpool (lunchtime)
Want more? Visit the Beatles history section.
Really sad article this, seeing everything John did on the day leading up to it.
Just a couple of things Joe. I think Helen Seaman was Fred’s Aunt, not his wife? From most of the reports i have read, they said John got out of the limo after Yoko. I’m not sure if this is right but I’ve read and seen a few things about that day recently and that’s what they said
Thanks for the corrections. I’ve amended the article now.
I can’t believe on this site there is a picture of John and the b*****d that murdered him, unbelievable!!
Get over it……..smh.
You can’t wipe away the facts; you can’t ignore history.
Hollow-point bullets… What a son of a bitch…
Last night, after reading this article, and Norman’s bio, I was thinking about the rock & roll novel I want to write, and this idea cross my mind: “what if John would be still alive?” That will definitely part of the novel.
This is really sad. Mark David Chapman will never be forgiven. I know that for a fact. John was an excellent father, husband, and an extraordinare in the music business. He will be missed forever.
“excellent father, husband”
Surely, you jest. He certainly improved though.
I can NOT get over John Lennon’s death. I have absolutely nothing but pain when I think about it. He was a beautiful man, despite his mistakes in life, What more did he do but give the world beautiful art and music? And incredibly poignant, timeless words and activism that will live on.
This…demon who shot him…I can not forgive. To die like a dog in the street when all you have ever done was give, give, give to the world? There is nothing sane or normal about that. I have absolute disgust in my country for the liberal gun laws we still carry. Look at all the innocent people getting shot at and dying or being physically impaired because any psycho can walk into a store and attain a weapon. When is this going to change?????!!!
My sympathy for Yoko, Julian, and Sean. I am SO sorry about your great loss that, I am certain, still hurts to this day.
RIP, You’ll always shine on like the moon and the stars and the sun
He will be miss on this earth but his message will live forever and all we need to do is have love and peace ox
so hard to believe it has been that long, miss what he could of still of been giving us, his wisdom of using words was awesome! Wonder what of so many things he would think of this United States we live in now and the war!
Greatest of them all
All you needed was love. Peace, John Peace.
R.I.P. John……
It was in the 9th UK time
Which, of course, makes all the difference.
Though I was only six years old I remember when my mummy told me that he had been shot.
What would the world be like if her were still here? We can only wonder. Rest in peace John…xoxo
Shine on…
I always feel for his family but the greedy side of me misses what kind of music there might have been.
This is truly the day the music died.
John Lennon was the coolest guy who ever lived. His contribution to the world will outlive us all. I listen to his music every day and I will always be grateful for his talent, spirit and heart.
R.I.P. Read this in the morning and couldn’t stop my tears running. How I wish you were still here with us.
35 years and it still feels like it was only yesterday. The dream may be over but John Lennon will always stay in many hearts and minds. That’s his unpayable legacy to the world we live in. This world needs another man like John Lennon.
May God bless John and his family and may he rest in peace. John is my favorite though I love them all. I listened to Imagine recently and it seemed brand new cause it had been awhile. Maybe John was right. Anyway the world apparently doesn’t want peace and the oligarchy (shadow devils) with their money will keep it that way.
Mark Chapman was a patsy according to E. Howard Hunt’s son, Saint John Hunt. His father was a member of Operation 40, central in countless covert operations, including the JFK assassination. According to Hunt, Jose Perdomo (mentioned above) was the actual shooter, and was a substitute that day. Perdomo was a collegue of another Operation 40 member Theodore “Blond Ghost” Shackley: Station chief of CIA’s Miami Station. As an FYI, David Atlee Philips, a.k.a. “Howard Benson”, the head of Operation 40, rose to become the CIA’s chief of all operations in the Western hemisphere.
We can only speculate as to the why but Lennon was on Nixon’s enemy list in the early 70’s. I post this because it won’t me mentioned in tonight’s CNN special, but people need to know. And when you think about it, isn’t the “lone nut gunman” scenario getting a bit shop worn?
It is a sad day.
Either this is tounge-in-cheek, or you need some serious professional help.
All this clueless, factless, baseless conspiracy garbage is what is getting shop-worn.
There’s a psychological term for people like this called cognitive dissonance. To cope with the mental discomfort of conflicting beliefs or behaviors different from their own perceptions, some people adopt an alternate reality. This helps them to reduce feelings of discomfort and restore balance. Flat earthers and moon landing deniers are the same way. But they spout these ideas as fact to anyone who’ll listen. And we know what happens if you repeat false Information long enough….
Hi there,
I’m not sure about the chronology. In the audio recording of the RKO interview, John can be heard asking if the car is ready to go outside. He wouldn’t have asked if he was intending to spend another six hours at The Dakota.
Also, according to interviews with Chapman, he never said “Mr Lennon” prior to the shooting.
This insect of a nobody robbed the world of so much, and Beatles fans of so much more.
Even the devils best friend chapman says Lennon died when Larry king asks him what December eighth means to him. It was as if he was trying to distance himself from what he did. He gets visits from his wife and sister. This guy killed someone on December eighth after failed suicide.
I was 14 and a Beatles freak, I had all the records, books, magazines and adored them all, but more so John, he was my favourite Beatle.
I was in the UK and my Mum woke me up around 6am which wasn’t normal for a school day and she just said it, ‘I’m afraid Johns been shot dead’
She wasn’t a fan and her just saying ‘John’ like that didn’t really click in my head immediately.
I began to wake up and it hit me with all the force in the world. They were playing one of his new songs (I think it was starting over) on Capital Radio and the DJ Graham Dean ended the song by saying something grim (Good morning on this sad day blah blah). I still went to school, in a daze, holding it all in. That evening the BBC showed the film Help. It was torture.
I hope your spirit is free Lennon, fly on to the toppermost.
I think the facts of what Lennon did in the afternoon of December 8 are reversed in the article. First he had the photo sessions and then in the early afternoon he gave a long interview with the RKO radio crew, after which upon leaving the Dakota building he had his first encounter with his assassin.