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The 30th Anniversary of the Assassination of John Lennon


By

Ben Yakas

Published Dec 5, 2010

Modified Dec 5, 2010


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By

Ben Yakas

Published Dec 5, 2010

Modified Dec 5, 2010


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This week marks the 30th anniversary of the assassination of John Lennon, who in the years since has attained the title of Greatest Transplant New Yorker Of All Time. On Dec. 8th, 1980, Lennon was murdered by Mark David Chapman on the steps of the The Dakota on the UWS. There are tributes and testimonials galore popping up all around the interweb.

The News talks to Dr. Stephan Lynn, the doctor who treated Lennon at Roosevelt Hospital's ER. He worked on Lennon for 25 minutes with two other surgeons and six nurses, to no avail: "I had no idea who the patient was. It wasn't until a nurse looked inside his wallet for identification that we realized who it was. In death he looked almost nothing like he looked in life. He was gray, he was gaunt, he had no signs of life. He had no pulse, no blood pressure...He was not breathing. We could have at that moment declared him dead." Meanwhile, some are still arguing over whether or not Chapman was a lone gunman, and if he was a pawn of the CIA. If conspiracy theories aren't quite your bag, you can check out this cool article about how the iconic Lennon NYC t-shirt photo came to be.

(And look, a whole post about John Lennon without a single mention of his widow! Oh wait...)

Tagged

anniversary

assassination

dakota

john lennon

mark david chapman

yoko ono


Ben Yakas

Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.

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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations


Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations


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