Security guard charged with murder in fatal shooting of soccer coach in Baltimore
BALTIMORE -- A security guard who shot and killed a beloved soccer coach last month in Southeast Baltimore has been charged with first-degree murder.
Keith Luckey was taken into custody Tuesday. His charges stem from the fatal shooting of Kevin Torres on Nov. 7 outside ChrisT bar in Highlandtown.
Torres, the President of the Villanueva Soccer Team, was out celebrating a championship win the night Luckey was working security. He was a husband and stepfather of two.
This arrest came after the Baltimore States Attorney's Office determined that the facts of the case warranted an arrest, police said.
Torres' team told WJZ they were out celebrating their championship win.
Officers responded shortly before 1:30 a.m. on Nov. 7 to the 400 block of East Lombard Street after they heard gunfire, police said. The 39-year-old security guard reported that he shot Torres because he threw a brick at him, according to police.
Torres was taken to a hospital, where he died.
"He died defending his family," Torres' friend Carlos said. "That's all I can tell you."
Luckey originally told police that he pulled the trigger after Torres threw a brick at him.
But Carlos tells WJZ a different story. He said Torress was pepper sprayed. That's when he went to pick up a brick to defend himself, Carlos said.
"He didn't have a chance to throw it," Carlos said. "He got shot immediately."
In the days after his death, friends, family and supporters held vigils and marches on Lombard Street calling for justice.
The arrest of Luckey brought some family members a sense of peace.
"I feel blessed," Carmen Ferrer, Torres' sister-in-law, said. "My brother-in-law was one of the best people in the world."
Our media partner the Baltimore Banner reports that in 2019, Luckey killed a man in a shootout in Windsor Mill. He was identified at the time of the shooting as a security forces member of the Maryland Air National Guard.
Luckey was allegedly trying to break up an argument in a restaurant parking lot when he saw one of the men involved had a gun. He told police he demanded that the man drop the gun, and shot him when he did not comply.
Luckey was cleared of wrongdoing in that shooting, the Banner reports.
