Do you remember where you were back on December 8, 1980; when famous former Beatle John Lennon was murdered and shot dead five times outside his home in New York City by gunman Mark David Chapman? Why did he murder the legend? No one really knows for sure but it has been reported that Chapman was a fan of J.D. Salinger’s “Catcher in the Rye” and that might have been his crazy influence behind Lennon’s assassination. The character in the novel Holden Caulfield would have killed John Lennon because he was famous and a phony according to Chapman. Still, that wasn’t a valid reason for his assassination. Chapman was just a crazy fanatic. He should be incarcerated for the rest of his life!
I was just a pre-teen when I first witnessed it all on television back in the 1980s. All the major media outlets reported it and DJs had no words on why this tragedy happened to a legend everyone knew and fans loved so well. It was one of the worst events in history that unfolded right before our very eyes.
Well sadly, today December 8, 2021, (and every December 8) marks the 41st Anniversary of his death. Every year at this time fans gather at Strawberry Fields in New York City’s Central Park to remember and pay tribute to the slain legendary former Beatle. He resided in the Dakota apartments at the time with his wife Yoko Ono and their son Sean Lennon.
Here’s a tweet looking back at fans singing and paying homage to their hero John Lennon the day he was killed on December 8, 1980.
The scene at Strawberry Fields, Central Park rn… Commemorating 12/8/1980 pic.twitter.com/GqedCsWdse
— Margaret Sullivan (@Sulliview) December 8, 2021
And here’s a video from today’s tribute at NYC Central Park of fans singing in honor of the slain Beatle who would have been 80-years-old if he were still alive today:
