On the day of December 8, 1980, I started work at 8am. I had been working as a staff nurse at the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) of Manhattan’s Roosevelt Hospital for over a year, and that was a day I’ll  never forget. By mid-afternoon we were short of staff for the  next shift. I was selected to work for another eight hours, which meant finishing at midnight.

During the night, one of the staff nurses from the ER rushed in and told us that John Lennon had been brought in – he had been shot and had severe blood loss.  They were opening up his chest as a last resort to resuscitate him.

There was a huge feeling of disbelief – who on earth  would shoot John Lennon? Who would want to?  I walked near his apartment building, the Dakota, every day on my way to work. Although I had never met him it was great to know he lived just down the road.  

Naturally rumours quickly spread about what had happened. Reality and confirmation was seeing staff – doctors, nurses -  going about their work, some silently crying, tears  coursing down their faces. We were all from a generation which knew him and enjoyed the Beatles and their music. How could this happen?

As I left the hospital that night, I had to ease my way  through layers of people and journalists.  All around,  people stood silently, holding candles.

I couldn’t sleep because of the shock. I thought  of the many people in Europe who  would be waking up to hear the horrific news of a tragedy - within metres of where I had  been.

The entrance to the Dakota - where John had been shot -  was turned into a shrine. A few days later there was a memorial gathering in Central Park. The thousands who turned up  observed a ten minute silence. In itself that was moving but it was  followed by the haunting notes of  Imagine played throughout  the park on loudspeakers.

The shooting occurred at 10.50pm. John Lennon was pronounced dead at 11.15pm, December 8, 1980.  

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*  That day the BBC reported that  Lennon had  spent the evening at a recording studio. The former Beatle returned home shortly before 2300 and was about to enter the Dakota when he was shot in the back four times. He died on the way to hospital.

The gunman was 25-year-old Mark Chapman, from Texas. He later said that ‘voices’ in his head had told him to kill the world-famous musician.

Lennon fans began arriving at the scene of the murder within hours, stunned their idol had been killed.
One BBC listener  later summed up the feeling of people around the world in his own remembrance:
Mark Chapman may have taken John Lennon from the world but he could never take John Lennon's spirit and musical legacy from us. That will remain with us forever.

Neil, Australia.