John Lennon was shot by one Mark Chapman, a paranoid schizophrenic who had earlier requested that Lennon sign his copy of the 'Double Fantasy' album - a photograph of that signing was flashed around the world. As John and Yoko returned home from a recording session later that evening, Chapman shot Lennon five times, then calmly took out his copy of JD Salinger's novel 'Catcher In The Rye' and sat on the sidewalk to await the police. To date, Chapman has given no coherent reason why he shot John Lennon. The irony of Lennon's death is that he enjoyed living in New York, because it gave him freedom to come and go as an ordinary citizen. It also gave free access to him from his fans, and the man who shot him dead outside his apartment block, in front of his helpless wife Yoko.