John Lennon’s last words were: ‘I’m shot.’
The Beatles icon was shot dead aged 40 by obsessed fan Mark David Chapman, 68, outside his New York City apartment building on December 8, 1980.
A new Apple TV+ documentary contains a claim from a doorman in the building that he heard Lennon’s final words as blood poured from the Imagine singer’s mouth.
Concierge Jay Hastings says in the three-part documentary, Lennon: Murder Without a Trial: ‘[Lennon] runs past me. He goes, “I’m shot”.’
‘He had blood coming out of his mouth. He just collapsed on the floor.’
Hastings adds: ‘I half rolled him to his back and took his glasses off, put them on the desk. And Yoko was screaming, “Get an ambulance, get an ambulance, get an ambulance”.’
Taxi driver Richard Peterson also reveals in the docuseries, due out on 6 December, that he was sat in his parked car outside the Dakota building and witnessed the shooting.
‘Lennon was walking in and this kid says, “John Lennon”.
‘He was a chunky guy. I’m looking at him through the front window of my cab.’
Peterson adds: ‘I’m looking at him shoot him. This guy just shot John Lennon. I thought they were making a movie, but I didn’t see no lights or cameras or anything so I realised, “Hey, this ain’t no movie”.’
Actor Kiefer Sutherland, 56, narrates the documentary, which features interviews with Lennon’s friends as well as Chapman’s defence lawyers, psychiatrists, detectives and prosecutors.
According to Apple, the documentary will reveal ‘shocking details of Lennon’s tragic murder’ and include interviews with the singer’s closest friends.
Infamously there was minimal investigation into the death as Chapman waited at the scene and immediately pleaded guilty when the police arrived.
The trailer hints at exploration into the conspiracy theories surrounding the high-profile death, which have suggested over the years that Chapman was pushed to commit the crime.
He has in the past apologised to Lennon’s wife Yoko Ono, stating it was a ‘despicable’ and ‘extremely selfish act’.
‘I’m sorry for the pain that I caused to her [Ono]. I think about it all of the time,’ Chapman said at his 2020 parole hearing.
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