HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — John Lennon's killer also targeted the likes of Elizabeth Taylor and Johnny Carson before choosing to murder the former Beatles star.
Mark David Chapman made the revelation earlier this month at a New York parole board hearing, where he disclosed there were other famous names on his targeted list that he couldn't recall.
Chapman said Lennon was the "most accessible" of his potential targets, and that he killed the music legend to gain "instant notoriety."
"I made a horrible decision to end another human being's life, for reasons of selfishness, and that was my decision at that time," said Chapman. "I felt that by killing John Lennon I would become somebody, and instead of that I became a murderer and murderers are not somebodies."
Chapman shot Lennon four times as the singer and his wife, Yoko Ono, arrived at their Upper West Side apartment building in New York City on December 8, 1980. The 40-year-old star was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Chapman is serving 20 years to life in a maximum security prison in New York for the murder. He was denied parole after the Sept. 7 hearing, his sixth since becoming eligible in 2000. He will be up again in 2012.
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