A jury of four men and eight women was selected on Monday for the trial of a security guard who’s accused of fatally shooting a soccer coach outside a bar in Baltimore.

Keith Luckey, 40, of Baltimore County, is standing trial this week in Baltimore Circuit Court on charges of second-degree murder, use of a handgun during the commission of a crime of violence, reckless endangerment and related offenses. He’s accused of shooting and killing Kevin Torres, 35, who had been out celebrating a championship win, outside ChrisT bar, on East Lombard Street near South Haven Street in Highlandtown, on Nov. 7, 2022.

Assistant State’s Attorney Matt Pillion and Lawrence Rosenberg, Luckey’s attorney, are set on Tuesday to give their opening statements in the case.

Baltimore Police reported that surveillance video shows Luckey pepper-spraying Torres from about 8-10 feet away. Meanwhile, Torres, police assert, threw a brick at Luckey.

Instead of retreating, Luckey turned toward Torres and opened fire as he was about to throw a second brick, police allege.

“He had a brick,” Luckey told investigators, according to court documents. “And based on my knowledge, training and experience, I know it to be a weapon that can cause grievous bodily harm or death, so at that point, I took out my weapon, fired, and he was hit.”

Two months before the deadly shooting, Torres was charged with second-degree assault on allegations that he struck a patron at ChrisT with a baton, fracturing his finger and causing bruises.

In 2019, Luckey shot and killed a man during an exchange of gunfire in the parking lot of the Golden Dragon Bar & Grill in Windsor Mill but was cleared of wrongdoing.

At the time, Luckey was a senior airman with the Maryland Air National Guard’s 175th Security Forces Squadron. He was off-duty at the time and a customer at the bar and restaurant.

Luckey told Baltimore County Police that he tried to deescalate an argument and saw that Jerome Dewitt Garrison, 36, of Baltimore, had a gun. That’s when Luckey reported that he gave Garrison commands to drop the weapon.

Torres was born in Honduras and served as president of the Villanueva soccer team. More than 100 people marched through the streets of Highlandtown and called for justice in the first of a week of consecutive protests.

The killing was one of several high-profile shootings involving security guards that led to legislative action in Maryland.

Circuit Judge Myshala E. Middleton is presiding over the trial.

dylan.segelbaum@thebaltimorebanner.com