Today in 1980: John Lennon was shot dead by an unknown gunman who opened fire outside the musician's New York apartment. The 40-year-old was shot several times as he entered the Dakota, his luxury apartment building on Manhattan's Upper West Side, opposite Central Park, at 2300 local time. He was rushed in a police car to St Luke's Roosevelt Hospital Center, where he died. A police spokesman said a suspect was in custody, but he had no other details of the shooting. "This was no robbery," the spokesman said, adding that Lennon was probably shot by a "deranged" person. Witness reports say at least three shots were fired and others have claimed they heard six. There are also reports Lennon staggered up six steps into the vestibule after he was shot, before collapsing. It is unclear whether the man had been lying in wait in the entrance to the building for Lennon, or whether he came up behind him. Witnesses described the gunman as a "pudgy kind of man", 35 to 40 years old with brown hair.
John Lennon was shot four times in the back by Mark Chapman, who had asked the former Beatle for his autograph only hours before he lay in wait and killed him. Chapman pleaded guilty to gunning down Lennon and served life in Attica prison near New York. In October 2004 he failed for the third time to secure his release. He said he had heard voices in his head telling him to kill the world-famous musician.