Chapman went to New York in October 1980 planning to kill Lennon but left to obtain ammunition from his unwitting friend Dana Reeves in Atlanta. He returned to New York in November but reports that, after going to the cinema and being inspired by the film Ordinary People, he returned to Hawaii, telling his wife he had been obsessed with killing Lennon but had snapped out of it. On December 6, he flew back to New York. He reports having reenacted some fictional events from Holden Caulfield’s stay in New York in The Catcher in the Rye.
On the morning of December 8, 1980, he departed from the Sheraton Hotel, having left personal items in his hotel room for police to find. Chapman bought a copy of The Catcher in the Rye from a New York bookstore, in which he wrote “This is my statement”, and signed “The Catcher in the Rye”. He then spent most of the day near the entrance to The Dakota apartment building where Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono lived, talking to other fans and the doorman. At one point, a distracted Chapman missed seeing John Lennon step out of a cab and enter the Dakota building on the morning of December 8. Late in the morning, Chapman met the Lennons’ housekeeper, who had just taken their five-year-old son Sean for a walk. Chapman conversed with the housekeeper and patted Sean on the head as they departed.[citation needed]
Around 5:00 p.m., John and Yoko left The Dakota for a recording session at Record Plant Studios. As they walked towards their limousine on the curb, Chapman shook hands with Lennon and held out a copy of Lennon’s new album, Double Fantasy, for him to sign. Photographer Paul Goresh was present when Lennon signed Chapman’s album and took a photo of the event.[6] Chapman reported that “At that point my big part won and I wanted to go back to my hotel, but I couldn’t. I waited until he came back. He knew where the ducks went in winter, and I needed to know this” (a reference to The Catcher in the Rye).
Around 10:50 p.m., the Lennons’ limousine returned to the Dakota. Lennon and Ono passed by Chapman and walked towards the archway entrance of the building’s courtyard. From the street, Chapman turned and fired five hollow point bullets from a Charter Arms .38 revolver that he had purchased in Hawaii, four of which hit Lennon’s back and shoulder. One of the bullets pierced Lennon’s aorta, causing severe blood loss by aortic dissection. It has been suggested that, before firing, Chapman called out “Mr. Lennon!” and dropped into a “combat stance”,[7] but this is not stated in court hearings or interviews.
Chapman remained at the scene, took out his copy of The Catcher in the Rye, and read it until the police arrived. The New York Police Department officers who first responded to the shooting recognized that Lennon’s wounds were severe, and so they decided to transport him in their police car to Roosevelt Hospital. Chapman was arrested without incident. In his statement to police three hours later, Chapman stated "I
