Mark David Chapman Biography

Mark David Chapman shot and killed musician John Lennon on December 8, 1980, outside the Dakota Apartments in New York City.

Mark David Chapman was a former security guard from Hawaii who came to New York specifically to attack the famous ex-Beatle. He waited outside the Dakota, then shot John Lennon with a snub-nosed revolver as Lennon was returning with his wife, Yoko Ono, from a late-night recording session. Chapman made no attempt to flee and was arrested on the spot.

Though Chapman’s lawyer initially entered a plea of insanity, Chapman later changed the plea to guilty. He was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison, a sentence which he began serving in New York’s Attica prison.

Mark David Chapman became eligible for parole in 2000, but was denied parole that year — and has been denied parole every two years since then, remaining in prison in New York. In the year 2022, more than four decades after his murder of Lennon, Chapman was denied parole for the 12th time. At that hearing, he expressed remorse and said he killed Lennon “because he was very, very, very famous and that’s the only reason and I was very, very, very, very much seeking self-glory.”