Taxi Driver Who Witnessed John Lennon's Murder Recalls Thinking Someone Was 'Making a Movie' After Hearing Shots

Richard Peterson recalls the fateful year of 1980 in the film “John Lennon: Murder Without Trial”

When taxi driver Richard Peterson pulled into Dakota on the night of December 8, 1980, he thought he might see John Lennon, New York’s most famous apartment building tenant.

Instead, he inadvertently witnessed one of the most shocking moments in pop culture history: Lennon’s murder.

For the first time since that tragic night more than 40 years ago, Peterson is talking about what he saw – and how he assumed they were filming when he first heard the gunshots – in John Lennon: Murder without triala three-part Apple TV+ documentary series streaming right now.

In the series, Peterson explains that he picked up two passengers that night and drove them to the Dakota, where they were going to a party. When he arrived in his taxi, he pulled up behind the limousine and soon saw Lennon’s wife, Yoko Ono, getting out and heading towards the building.

“‘Oh! John Lennon has got to be next,'” Peterson recalls thinking. “I’d never seen him in person. It was like, oh, I can say I’ve seen John Lennon.”

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John Lennon and Yoko Ono photographed on November 2, 1980.

Jack Mitchell/Getty

At that moment, however, Peterson saw not the 40-year-old musician but Mark David Chapman, whom he remembers as “a stocky, stocky guy.”

“I’m looking at him, I’m looking out the front window of my taxi. I’m looking at him, shoot him. Five shots. This guy just shot John Lennon. He shot him – he says. “I thought they were making a movie. That’s what I thought too, I thought they were making a movie. But I didn’t see any lights or cameras or anything, so I just realized, ‘Hey, this isn’t a movie.'”

Peterson recalls that Lennon’s killer – who remains behind bars after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in 1981 – remained at the scene after the shooting and acted “as calm as a cucumber”.

The driver is one of several people interviewed in the new documentary series, directed by Nick Holt and Rob Coldstream and narrated by Kiefer Sutherland (executive producers are David Glover, Mark Raphael and Coldstream, plus producers Simon Bunney and Louis Lee Ray).

John Lennon in New York ca. in 1973.

Vinnie Zuffante/Michael Ochs Archive/Getty

Others include Dakota goalie Jay Hastings — who tells PEOPLE about his memories in this week’s issue — as well as Chapman’s defense attorney David Suggs and Dr. Naomi Goldstein, the psychiatrist who first evaluated Chapman.

The series takes a deep dive into the investigation and sentencing of Chapman, as his lawyers and prosecutors debated his mental state. He was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison, and in 2022 he was denied parole for the 12th time. He has since said he killed Lennon for fame, calling his actions “selfish”.

For more on John Lennon, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands everywhere now.

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Source: HIS Education