John Lennon’s assassination witness reveals singer’s harrowing last moments

John Lennon’s final moments during his shocking assassination in 1980 have just been laid bare.

Talking to People Magazine, Lennon’s doorman, Jay Hastings, detailed the harrowing last moments of the beloved musical icon, remembering “everything like it was yesterday.”

Hastings was present as the assassination unraveled at Lennon’s New York City Dakota apartment. Per his account, he heard the gunshots at around 10:50 p.m. local time, immediately after which “[Lennon] came running up… and he’s like ‘I’m shot, I’m shot’ and he just ran past me to the back office, and just collapsed.”

Hastings recalled going into the back office and seeing Lennon’s wife, Yoko Ono, who was screaming, “Get an ambulance. Get an ambulance.”

Another doorman, Jose, had already alerted the police through a panic button, and Hasting dialed 911 as well.

But as police were en route, Lennon’s assailant, later identified as Mark David Chapman, was still at large in the house.

So, Hastings “grabbed the billy club on top of the safe” and went to “clock this guy” to prevent him from getting away. 

As he approached Chapman, Hastings recalled noticing the gunman “facing the wall, doing something… He was reading a book.”

Hastings reflected that when police arrived moments later, he probably “looked a little crazy” as he had “blood on [his] hands” and looked disheveled.

However, he pointed the police to Chapman, who was taken into custody and ultimately sentenced to 20-years-to-life for his crime.

Lennon was taken to the nearby Roosevelt Hospital within ten minutes of the shooting, but was pronounced dead upon arrival.