On the 8th of December 1980, Mark David Chapman murdered John Lennon by firing four .38 calibre hollow point bullets into his back at close range. Chapman remained at the scene until police arrived and arrested him. He later pled guilty, claiming that his actions were the will of God.
Chapman, originally a big fan of both the Beatles and Lennon, changed his tune after becoming a born again Presbyterian in 1971. He was angered by Lennon’s comment that the Beatles were “more popular than Jesus”, considering this blasphemous.
In the weeks preceding the murder, Chapman stated the following: “I would listen to this music and I would get angry at him, for saying that he didn’t believe in God… and that he didn’t believe in the Beatles. This was another thing that angered me, even though this record had been done at least ten years previously. I just wanted to scream out loud, ‘Who does he think he is, saying these things about God and heaven and the Beatles? Saying that he doesn’t believe in Jesus and things like that. At that point, my mind was going through a total blackness of anger and rage.”
I had no idea that Lennon’s murderer was a Christian fundamentalist. They’ve kept that one very quiet, haven’t they?
Teenage Daydream 