carcharias said:
It was actually December 8th in New York.
I was there at the Dakota Flats that day waiting for an autograph in the same street as Chapman
Get f***ed!!!!!!
Are you shittin me?????
I was waiting to get a tooth pulled at the dentist when it came on the radio.
lol. no I'm not shittin you.
frank said:
No WAY!!
How long after that famous photo did the shooting occur? Did you see it happen?
No, that happened after I left.
I was there that day hanging outside the Dakota. I heard a rumour that Lennon was due back from the recording studio and one of things I wanted to do while in NY was to meet him. I was only 19 or 20 and I grew up with his music so it was just something I wanted to do.
I hung around for a couple of hours, got a little bored so I decided to try another day. I went out with some friends instead before having an early night.
I was woken up by one of those friends who said she just heard something on the radio that Lennon had been shot. I was only a few blocks away so I was there in pretty quick time.
There were about 20 or 30 people there and the police tape had cordoned off an area in front of the entrance of the Dakota. There was blood on the ground... and someone had thrown a reef over the spot.
An hour later there was about a thousand people there and it kept growing with people spilling into Central Park. The hawkers were quick too... it only took a couple of hours and there were a few trying to sell memorabilia junk such as Beatles buttons etc.
After a few hours with a huge crowd there, a spokesperson came out to tell us that Yoko was requesting everyone to go home... that pretty much fell on deaf ears. But this was being said right in front of me and I'd seen enough so I went to a bar and got pissed.
It was afterwards that I realised that Chapman must have been in the same airspace as me in front of the Dakota. He was apparently there the entire day.
A few days later and there was memorial in Central Park... it was absolutely packed. Seemed like there were a million people there.
New York is a place whch has seen everything and wasn't easily shocked, but the whole place seemed to go into mourning that week.
