On this day, December the 8th, in the year of 1980, John Lennon, a former member of the uber popular band The Beatles, was shot outside of his New York City apartment, leading to his demise.

After his departure with The Beatles in 1969, Lennon went on to have a successful solo career, with such hits as “Imagine”, but stopped making music in 1975 to continue his activism and spend time with his newly born son (Biography), though he made a return to music in 1980, the same year of his death.

Going into his apartment building, John Lennon was met with four short ranged gun shots from Mark Chapman, who had received an autograph from Lennon earlier on in the day, and passed while in transit to a medical facility.

Chapman was sentenced twenty years to life in jail, where he remains today, as officials deem him a danger (History) (The Scotsman).

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