The Murder of John Lennon

<p>On the evening of 8 December 1980, English musician <a title="John Lennon" href= "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lennon">John Lennon</a>, formerly of <a title="The Beatles" href= "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles">the Beatles</a>, was shot and fatally wounded in the archway of <a title= "The Dakota" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dakota">The Dakota</a>, his residence in <a title="New York City" href= "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City">New York City</a>. His killer was <a title="Mark David Chapman" href= "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_David_Chapman">Mark David Chapman</a>, an American Beatles fan who was incensed by Lennon's lavish lifestyle and his 1966 comment that the Beatles were "<a title="More popular than Jesus" href= "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/More_popular_than_Jesus">more popular than Jesus</a>". Chapman said he was inspired by the fictional character <a title="Holden Caulfield" href= "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holden_Caulfield">Holden Caulfield</a> from <a title="J. D. Salinger" href= "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._D._Salinger">J. D. Salinger</a>'s novel <em><a title="The Catcher in the Rye" href= "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye">The Catcher in the Rye</a></em>, a "phony-killer" who despises hypocrisy.</p>