James Taylor met John Lennon’s killer the day before Beatles icon was shot dead
James Taylor has revealed how John Lennon‘s killer gave him an unsettling message about the late Beatles icon only a day before he shot him dead.
Today (December 8) marks 40 years since Lennon was killed by Mark David Chapman outside the entrance to New York’s Dakota apartment building, where he was living with wife Yoko Ono.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Taylor explained how he encountered Chapman a day before the murder took place.
Chapman, who was 25 at the time, was said to be “glistening with sweat” and “his eyes were dating all over the place… dilated like crazy”.
Recalling their encounter, Taylor said that Chapman “seemed either drugged or in a manic break of some sort”.
Chillingly, he also remembered that Chapman mentioned Lennon in conversation and said he was “going to show him” something.
“He was just talking a mile a minute about something he was going to show John Lennon,” Taylor said.
“He was just someone who knew me who I didn’t know; someone who had an agenda that I knew I couldn’t deal with. I just knew that I needed to get away from him.”
The ‘Fire & Rain’ singer added that the encounter happened approximately a 25-minute walk away from where Chapman would shoot Lennon.
Chapman, who is now 65, was denied parole for the eleventh time in August.
He is currently serving a 20-years-to-life sentence at Wende Correctional Facility in Erie County, New York, having pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
Chapman will now remain behind bars for at least another two years, with his next hearing scheduled for August 2022. He was first eligible for parole in 2000.
Lennon’s bandmate McCartney discussed his bandmate’s murder in a recent interview, telling The New York Times that it was a “senseless act”.
“It’s difficult for me to think about,” he said.
“I rerun the scenario in my head. Very emotional. So much so that I can’t really think about it. It kind of implodes.
“What can you think about that besides anger, sorrow?” he continued. “Like any bereavement, the only way out is to remember how good it was with John. Because I can’t get over the senseless act. I can’t think about it.