Thirty five years ago today the Beatle was gunned down outside the Dakota building where he lived with his wife Yoko Ono and son Sean, then just five-years-old.
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The Dakota building is seen on the 35-year anniversary of John Lennon’s death on December 8, 2015 in New York City. “John Lennon’s death appears to have done more to center attention on handguns than any recent event”, reported the Washington Post at the time.
FILE – In this December 14, 1980, file photo, people participating in tribute to the slain musician John Lennon wave the peace sign and sing “Give Peace A Chance” at New York’s Central Park. His killer, John Mark Chapman, received 20 years to life in prison.
Meanwhile, Chapman was denied parole for an eighth time in 2014. The atmosphere was further buoyed by the arrival of record company boss David Geffen to pass on the good tidings that Lennon’s latest album Double Fantasy had turned gold. One of those people was Mark David Chapman, John Lennon’s assassin.
While it’s true that Cosell was the first to announce the news on MNF (through a series of happenstance that had an ABC producer in the hospital for a bicycle accident overhearing police talking about the slain man next to him, Lennon), he wasn’t exactly announcing to all of America.
Police said they had a suspect and described him as “a screwball” with no apparent motive for shooting Lennon.
“This was no robbery”, the spokesman said, adding that Mr Lennon was probably shot by a “deranged” person.
A memorial to John Lennon exists in a part of Central Park that is across from Lennon and Ono’s apartment. I should have cried, but I didn’t.
Deartra Sato was a nurse in the ER with Halleran, and says, “The police were hinting did we know who he was, did we know”. When Lennon appeared shortly before 11 p.m., Chapman opened fire with a Charter Arms.38-calibre pistol.
In New York, more than 5,000 people converged on the scene of Lennon’s shooting, singing Beatles songs.
In 1976, he won resident’s status in the United States after a court fight against a deportation order stemming from a British drug conviction.
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The song’s lasting effect has found its way into the voices many of today’s biggest artists, as they have continually covered the track over the years in concert and special performances.
