What happened on the day music legend John Lennon was assassinated?

(Baonghean.vn) - More than 36 years ago, on December 8, 1980, the world forever lost a legend, a musical monument of the era.

John and his son Julian. Photo: Getty.

On that fateful day, the founding member of the famous band The Beatles, John Lennon, was murdered by an overzealous fan, just steps away from his apartment in New York City, USA.

Many people have asked over the years what really happened to their idol that night 36 years ago. On the night of his assassination, John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono had dinner together in the city. Afterwards, they decided to return to their apartment to say goodnight to their son Sean.

Normally the couple would get out of the car and enter through the security door of the Dakota building in Strawberry Fields, but that day they somehow got out of the car on 72nd Street.

Mark David Chapman in a photo taken at a New York state prison on May 15, 2012. Photo: Reuters.

Mark Chapman was standing there, waiting for the 40-year-old singer and his wife to appear. Just hours earlier, Lennon and Chapman had met, when the music legend signed an autograph for the crazed fan.

After months of following the Beatles star, flying from Hawaii to New York several times, he took the last flight that day, hiding a Charter Arms 38 pistol in his luggage to commit the crime.

He shot musician and singer John Lennon five times, four of which hit the target.

John did not die immediately after being shot, some sources confirmed that he later tried to climb the stairs of his building to ask for help but collapsed.

When the police arrived, Lennon was lying face down in a pool of blood. New York Police Department officer Tony Palma and his partner Herb Frauenberger helped Lennon up and put him in the police car.

Meanwhile, Chapman, then 25 years old, calmly took off his jacket, waiting to be handcuffed.

A team of doctors then spent 15 minutes trying to save Lennon's life at the hospital, but the injuries were too serious and he breathed his last at 11pm.

John and his wife Yoko. The legendary musician and singer passed away at 11pm on December 8, 1980. Photo: Getty.

Chapman was later sentenced to 20 years in prison. He confessed to selling a Norman Rockwell painting to finance his trips to spy on his idol. When he was arrested, he boasted that his surveillance and planning were “unbelievable.”

So what was it that drove him to commit such a terrible tragedy? He simply wanted the “halo of fame, the infamy” that he “could not resist.”

36 years have passed, the world is still mourning, John Lennon's songs still live on as a legend. His wife, Yoko, still lives in the Dakota building and has repeatedly rejected Chapman's request for clemency.

Phu Binh

(According to Metro)