Back Stories: The Day John Lennon Died

NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – On December 8, 1980, John Lennon was murdered in his New York City home.

WCBS reporter Rich Lamb remembers the news was announced during Monday Night Football. 

He raced to Roosevelt Hospital and rushed inside.

"In the three or four minutes that I had been in the hospital, somebody had popped the passenger side window and ripped all the two-way radio gear out of the car," he says.

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He made his way to a payphone to call the bulletin in, before heading to the 20th Precinct.

"There was an inspector named Pete Prezioso with the NYPD. Pete signaled me and said, 'come on over here.' And he said, 'go into the other room and take a look at a piece of paper on the table,'" he says. "There was written, 'Mark David Chapman.'"

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