John Lennon Shot Dead Outside Manhattan Home
John Lennon was shot in the archway of the Dakota building in New York City on the evening of December 8, 1980, by Mark David Chapman, who had been waiting outside for hours. Lennon had signed an autograph for him earlier that day. He was 40. He and Yoko Ono had just released Double Fantasy, their first album together in five years. He'd spent much of the previous five years as a house-husband in the Dakota, raising their son Sean, who was five when Lennon died. He'd fled Liverpool, then London, then the world's attention, looking for privacy and finding it briefly in New York. He was pronounced dead at Roosevelt Hospital. The Central Park memorial, Strawberry Fields, was dedicated in 1985. People still bring flowers.
December 8, 1980
46 years ago
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