Body piercer fatally shot outside Baltimore tattoo parlor

BALTIMORE (AP) - An employee at a Baltimore tattoo parlor was gunned down outside the shop.

News outlets report that 43-year-old James Forrester was shot in the chest Monday night while on the phone with his wife outside Baltimore Tattoo Museum. He was taken to Johns Hopkins hospital, where he died.

Baltimore Tattoo Museum owner Chris Keaton said Forrester, of Ranson, West Virginia, was a body piercer and an “icon” in the local rock music scene. Forrester was a bassist in two bands, Foghound and Serpents of Secrecy, and also played in Sixty Watt Shaman.

Det. Donny Moses says police haven’t identified any suspects, but the neighborhood has experienced a recent pattern of violence committed by youths.

Forrester was the 334th person killed in Baltimore this year.