Mark Chapman expresses remorse for John Lennon murder: “This was evil in my heart”
In 1981, Mark Chapman was sentenced to 20 years-to-life for the killing of John Lennon. Now, the convicted murderer, who shot Lennon in the back as he entered his New York Apartment complex in the December of that year, has said that he had “evil in my heart.”
Those words were heard during a parole board hearing back in August, which led to Chapman being denied parole for the 12th time on account of his “selfish disregard for human life of global consequence”.
The shooting took place on December 8th, 1980, shortly after the release of Lennon’s album Double Fantasy. Earlier that day, Chapman had approached Lennon outside The Dakota and asked him for an autograph. When Lennon and Yoko returned to the apartment that evening, Chamanw was still waiting outside.
As Lennon walked towards the entrance, he glanced at the gunman, having recognised him from earlier. A moment later, Chapman pulled a gun from his coat pocket and fired five follow-point bullets into Lennon’s back. Chapman would later reveal that the murder had been meticulously planned.
During his August parole hearing, Chapman said that his decision to murder Lennon was his “big answer to everything. I wasn’t going to be a nobody, any more,” he said, adding: “I am not going to blame anything else or anybody else for bringing me there.”
Chapman continued: “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. The 67-yar-old went on to note: “This was evil in my heart. I wanted to be somebody, and nothing was going to stop that.”
Chapman is currently serving his sentence at the Green Haven Correction Facility in New York’s Hudson Valley and has expressed remorse for the killing. “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 at the August hearing.
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