On December 8, 1980, 40-year-old Beatles legend and rock icon John Lennon — who eerily predicted his own death — was shot five times in the back outside his Manhattan apartment building by former Beatles fan Mark David Chapman. Why? We still don't know.
According to the Independent, Chapman has given many conflicting reasons as to why he killed Lennon, such as seeking fame, as well as his spiritual beliefs. In 2010, Chapman stated he had a hit list that included Elizabeth Taylor, Paul McCartney, and late-night legend Johnny Carson, but chose Lennon "out of convenience." He also expressed hatred of Lennon's hit "Imagine," which he believed made the iconic musician a Communist and a hypocrite: "He told us to imagine no possessions and there he was, with millions of dollars and yachts and farms and country estates, laughing at people like me who had believed the lies and bought the records and built a big part of their lives around his music."
A year after the murder, Chapman was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison and was denied parole for the 11th time in 2020 (via Rolling Stone). Ironically, Chapman's desire for fame was one of the factors behind his parole denial in 2018, with the board stating that if he was released, "someone may attempt or succeed in harming you out of anger and or revenge, or for the same reason that you did John Lennon, to assume notoriety."
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