John Lennon, the legend of the Beatles, died at the age of 40 after a man who simply wanted to be famous brutally shot him. The unexpected event not only sent shockwaves through the music world back in 1980, but also changed what could have been the future of the English rock band. More than two decades later, his killer, Mark David Chapman, has revealed what Lennon’s last words were.
Chapman killed the music legend back in 1980, shooting him five times with a .38 Special revolver. According to EBSCO, on the night of December 8 of that year, the killer waited outside Lennon’s apartment. When Lennon was returning home with his wife, Yoko Ono, Chapman brutally shot them. Upon arriving at the hospital, the Beatles legend was pronounced dead.
The killer was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. He was just denied his 14th attempt to get parole. As it seems, perhaps there is no real chance for him to be a free man again. Earlier this year, Chapman once again apologized for shooting Lennon. His revelation about the singer’s last words came at the same time, as he explained why he took his life at all.
John Lennon’s final day began with kindness to a stranger who had already decided he wouldn’t let him live.
On December 8, 1980, John Lennon stepped outside The Dakota in New York, unaware that a man who had followed him across the country was waiting on the sidewalk.
Mark David… pic.twitter.com/07vthXNZCY
— BrightMind History (@Brightmind24_7) November 19, 2025
According to various reports from the time of the shooting, Chapman was found reading J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye at the scene. He allegedly identified strongly with the book’s protagonist, Holden Caulfield, who referred to Lennon as “phony.” His conclusion came from the fact that the singer preached about life without materialistic possessions in songs like Imagine, while living a life of luxury himself. His court documents also reflect how he believed he was acting as a “phony killer.”
However, it might not have been the main reason why he killed John Lennon. Just a few months ago, it was revealed that Mark David Chapman actually wanted to be famous himself. His crime might have stemmed from a place where he continuously compared himself to the legend, who was considered “more popular than Jesus.”
“This was for me and me alone, unfortunately, and it had everything to do with his popularity. My crime was completely selfish,” Chapman said in August, according to the New York Post. Speaking to a parole board from the Green Haven Correctional Facility, he said the reason he wanted to shoot Lennon was “To be famous, to be something I wasn’t.”
From NY POSTcast: Deranged killer Mark David Chapman gunned down John Lennon over a pathetic desire to “be a somebody,” he recently told a parole board, ahead of the shocking crime’s 45th anniversary. Subscribe here: https://t.co/ITnbbpmPkL pic.twitter.com/FLu6nXNCt3
— New York Post (@nypost) October 21, 2025
“And then I just realized, hey, there is a goal here. I don’t have to die, and I can be a somebody. I had sunk that low. That morning of the 8th, I just knew. I don’t know how I knew, but I just knew that was going to be the day that I was going to meet and kill him,” he added.
In the Apple TV+ documentary John Lennon: Murder Without a Trial, Chapman revealed Lennon’s last words. “He runs past me. He goes, ‘I’m shot.’ I half rolled him to his back and took his glasses off, put them on the desk. And Yoko was screaming, ‘Get an ambulance, get an ambulance, get an ambulance.’”
