John Lennon's Killer Says He Was Seeking Fame When He Murdered Beatle: 'Was Evil in My Heart'

Anna Lazarus Caplan
·3 min read
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Portrait of British musician John Lennon (1940 - 1980) (center) and his wife, artist and musician Yoko Ono (extreme left) as they attend an unspecified rally in Hyde Park, London, England, 1975.
Portrait of British musician John Lennon (1940 - 1980) (center) and his wife, artist and musician Yoko Ono (extreme left) as they attend an unspecified rally in Hyde Park, London, England, 1975.
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Rowland Scherman/Getty John Lennon

Mark David Chapman said that he killed John Lennon because he "wanted to be somebody and nothing was going to stop that."

The killer, 67 — who was up for parole in August and denied for the 12th time — reportedly told New York state officials during his hearing that he knew that killing the legendary Beatles co-frontman was wrong, according to a transcript released to the Associated Press on Monday.

"I am not going to blame anything else or anybody else for bringing me there," Chapman told the board. "I knew what I was doing, and I knew it was evil, I knew it was wrong, but I wanted the fame so much that I was willing to give everything and take a human life."

He continued, "This was evil in my heart. I wanted to be somebody and nothing was going to stop that."

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Chapman gunned down Lennon, 40, outside The Dakota apartment building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan on Dec. 8, 1980. The two had crossed paths earlier in the day when Chapman had obtained the musician's autograph on a copy of his recently released album, Double Fantasy, per the AP.

Chapman bought the gun three months before the shooting and then traveled to New York City from Hawaii to carry out the crime. He was denied parole for the 11th time in 2020.

In the years since his tragic death, Lennon has retained icon status in the music industry, and is often remembered by his family members and his former bandmates.

At the Aug. 31 hearing, Chapman did allow that his actions carried significant consequences.

"I hurt a lot of people all over the place and if somebody wants to hate me, that's OK, I get it," he said.

This Jan. 31, 2018 photo, provided by the New York State Department of Corrections, shows Mark David Chapman, the man who shot and killed John Lennon outside his Manhattan apartment building in 1980. Chapman has been denied parole for a 12th time, New York corrections officials said
This Jan. 31, 2018 photo, provided by the New York State Department of Corrections, shows Mark David Chapman, the man who shot and killed John Lennon outside his Manhattan apartment building in 1980. Chapman has been denied parole for a 12th time, New York corrections officials said

AP/Shutterstock Mark David Chapman

Parole board members denied his release due to a "selfish disregard for human life of global consequence." He will go before the board for a 13th time in February 2024, NBC News reported.

RELATED: Yoko Ono Marks 41st Anniversary of John Lennon's Death with Stark Gun Violence Statistic

Chapman is serving a 20-year-to-life sentence at Green Haven Correctional Facility in New York's Hudson Valley.

In recent years, Yoko Ono, 89, has paid tribute to her late husband on social media by sharing gun violence statistics.

Last December, on the 41st anniversary of his death, she offered a stark statistic.

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"Over 1.5 million people have been killed by guns in the U.S.A. since John Lennon was shot and killed on December 8, 1980," Ono wrote.