Paul McCartney Talks About John Lennon - The Jonathan Ross Show
(Originally published by the Daily News on Dec. 09, 1980. This story was written by Patrick Doyle, Robert Lane and Hugh Bracken.)
Former Beatle John Lennon, the 40-year-old lead singer of the most popular rock group in history, was shot to death last night as he stepped from a limousine outside his home in the Dakota, an exclusive apartment building on Central Park West and 72d St.
Police arrested a suspect, described as a local screwball, minutes after the shooting and charged him with Lennons murder. The smirking suspect, identified as Mark David Chapman, 25, of Hawaii, was seen in the vicinity of the Dakota for several hours before the shooting and reportedly had hounded Lennon for an autograph several times in the last three or four days.
Lennon and his Japanese-born wife, Yoko Ono, were returning to their apartment from a recording session when the shots rang out.
Lennon was taken to Roosevelt Hospital in a police radio car and was pronounced dead on arrival in the emergency room.
We tried to save him, said Dr. Stephen Lynn, director of emergency services. We opened his chest and massaged his heart, but he was virtually dead when they brought him in. Lennons body was then taken to the Bellevue Hospital morgue for an autopsy.
Police said Lennon was shot several times at close range inside the large iron gate on the W. 72d St. side of the building and was bleeding profusely when he was placed in the radio car.
Lynn said Lennon was brought into the emergency room a few minutes before 11 p.m. and was pronounced dead at 11:07 p.m. Extensive resuscitation efforts were made, and despite transfusion and other methods, he could not be revived, Lynn said.
The doctor added that significant damage had been done to a major vessel in the chest. There was a massive blood loss.
Police Officer James Moran, who drove the car that took Lennon to the hospital, said the singer had no last words.
A witness to the shooting, Sean Strub, said he saw Chapman walk back and forth at the scene of the shooting and then drop a gun. Police said they later recovered a .38-caliber revolver near the courtyard.
Strub said Chapman, whom he described as pudgy and dressed in a brown jacket, scuffled with the police immediately after they arrived on the scene. Chapman almost had a smirk on his face, Strub said.
A woman who identified herself as Nina McFadden of W. 94th St. said she heard the shots and then watched as Chapman paced back and forth and threw his jacket to the ground.
I saw John and Yoko step out of the limousine, she said. They walked inside the gate. Then I heard four or five shots. They were loud, ear-shattering.
I heard Yoko scream, Help, help. Help him, McFadden said.
It was then that I saw the man with the gun and watched him drop it from his side to the ground, McFadden said.
She said she then saw a man walk over to the building security guard and heard him say, I would leave here if I were you.
Six policemen put Lennon into the car for the mile ride to the hospital.
The sobbing Yoko, who has told interviewers she is 47, was very distraught and couldnt believe Lennon was dead, according to police and a large crowd of fans who gathered silently outside the hospital emergency room as word of Lennons death spread. Several hundred persons maintained a vigil outside the Dakota. Most carried radios and listened to news accounts of the singers death.
Barbara Tyree, a maid who was taking care of two children on the ground floor of the apartment building, said she was shocked by the shots and terrified when she looked out the window into the courtyard.
The courtyard was suddenly filled with people, she said. Its terrible, terrible.
Ruth Ford, who lives in the fifth floor of the Dakota, said she was writing Christmas cards when she heard the shots.
I looked down into the yard from my kitchen, she said. I immediately called the police and Roosevelt Hospital.
She said she knew Lennon and Yoko but did not know Lennon was the shooting victim until the elevator man told her.
Lennons producer, Jack Douglas, who arrived at the hospital shortly after Lennon was pronounced dead, said the singer was scheduled soon to put the finishing touches on his next album.
Lennons latest album Double Fantasy, cut with his wife, was released about a month ago and signaled his comeback after five years in retirement. It received generally good reviews, and the albums hit single, Starting Over, soared to the top of the pop charts.
The Beatles, disbanded in 1970 after seven phenomenal years together. The last time Lennon met with any of his fellow Beatles was Thanksgiving Day, when he and Ringo Starr dined at the Dakota.
Tags: archives , john lennon , yoko onoSource: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/john-lennon-killed-mark-chapman-month-1980-article-1.2035505
