Jim Forrester looks like a man you wouldn't mess with.
He was a big guy, talented musician and covered in tattoos and piercings, but his friends say he was a big softie who often stepped outside the tattoo museum on Eastern Avenue several times a day just to talk to his wife.
"Him and his wife were definitely into each other,” said friend and Tattoo Artist Adam Jeffrey, “They are very happy people. He liked to call her two or three times a day. He'd walk out on the steps and he'd have giggles and smiles and whatever was going on there was sweet and he didn't like to do it in front of the guys."
It was during one of those sweet moments that Jim became another acidic, sour moment in Baltimore's 2017.
Forrester was robbed and shot in the chest and police now say it wasn't so much teenagers as originally thought, but two men.
Baltimore police released footage from two surveillance cameras that show a fairly clear view of the two men and they are asking you to look at it and then share it.
"I have to maintain my composure and frustration level,” said Baltimore Police Chief T.J. Smith, “But if this doesn't infuriate you then you really are misplaced with the problem."
Because it seems another random victim, another robbery; even more careless gunplay and depraved disregard for a human life.
"They're murderers,” Smith said, “They are people that need to be taken off the street and taken off the street now. They don't get a holiday, they don’t get a day off. We need them off the street. "
They shouldn't get a holiday because Jim Forrester's wife and friends won't get one.
Christmas will be spent suffering the cruelty of the senselessness and the utter finality of loss.
"Our friend and manager performed CPR on Jim until the medics arrived. Yes, very hard. Very hard to watch your friend coughing up blood and taking their last breathe in front of you," Jeffrey said.
If you recognize the two men in the video, call crime stoppers at 1-866-7-LOCKUP.
Meanwhile a go fund me page has been set up for Forrester just today surpassed the 10 thousand dollar goal.
Jim Forrester's viewing is scheduled for Friday night from 6 to 10 at the Lilly and Zeiler Funeral Home followed by a private funeral tomorrow.
