John Lennon’s killer Mark David Chapman admits there was ‘evil’ in his ‘heart’

The man who shot John Lennon outside his New York City apartment building in 1980 told a parole board he knew it was wrong to kill the beloved former Beatle – but was seeking fame and had “evil” in his “heart”.

Mark David Chapman made the comments to a board which denied him parole for a 12th time, citing his “selfish disregard for human life of global consequence”.

Chapman, in a transcript released by state officials on Monday under a freedom of information request, said the decision to kill Lennon was “my big answer to everything. I wasn’t going to be a nobody anymore”.

“I knew what I was doing and I knew it was evil. I knew it was wrong but I wanted the fame so much that I was willing to give everything and take a human life.”

Chapman killed Lennon on the night of December 8 1980 as he and Yoko Ono were returning to their Upper West Side apartment.

Earlier that day, Lennon had signed an autograph for Chapman on a copy of his recently released album Double Fantasy.

Chapman is serving a 20-years-to-life sentence at Green Haven Correctional Facility in New York’s Hudson Valley.

He has repeatedly expressed remorse during his parole hearings over the years.

“I hurt a lot of people all over the place and if somebody wants to hate me, that’s OK, I get it,” he said at the August 31 hearing.

Chapman’s next parole board appearance is scheduled for February 2024.