A man already serving seven life sentences in Delaware will be tried for four Philly homicides

The man accused of committing one of the deadliest local killing sprees in recent memory was ordered Tuesday to stand trial for three Philadelphia homicides in 2021 that left four people dead — including his mother, who was about to remove him from her life insurance policy.

Still, in an unusual twist, Keith Gibson — who is already serving seven life sentences for a string of killings and robberies he committed in Delaware around the same time — missed the bulk of his hours-long preliminary hearing Tuesday. After repeatedly disrupting the proceedings by unleashing a series of outbursts toward his attorneys, witnesses, and a judge, he opted to be sent back to jail instead of agreeing to sit quietly in the courtroom as the case concluded.

By the end of the hearing, Municipal Court Judge Karen Y. Simmons agreed to hold Gibson for trial on charges including four counts of murder, and also said she was charging him with a new case of contempt for his unruly behavior.

Those legal travails are just the latest developments for Gibson, 42. In all, authorities say, he killed six people between January and June of 2021 — four in Philadelphia and two in Delaware. He also attempted to kill several others during a slate of additional crimes in Delaware before he was arrested in Wilmington after committing an armed robbery there, police said.

In Philadelphia, authorities said Gibson killed his mother, Christine, who was taking steps to remove him as an insurance beneficiary; Eric Flores and Roy Caban, who were fatally shot during a robbery at a North Philadelphia clothing store; and Christine Lugo, a Dunkin’ employee who was also gunned down during a robbery at the shop where she worked.

Beyond the unusually high number of victims Gibson is accused of killing, the case attracted attention three years ago because of questions about why he’d been free to do so in the first place. He had been jailed for a probation violation in Delaware in April 2021, and probation officers warned a judge that they believed him to be violent.

Still, Gibson was sentenced to time served and released from jail. He then went on to commit two homicides in Delaware and another in Philadelphia, authorities said.

The facts of the case were nearly overshadowed by Gibson’s antics in court Tuesday, which began as soon as he was brought out to sit next to his public defenders, Mary Henin and Jonathan Strange.

He first complained that he did not want to be represented by them, though his reasons were not entirely clear. Then, after he attempted to yell over Simmons, the judge, she warned him that if he continued doing so, she could have sheriff’s deputies place a muzzle over his mouth to prevent him from interrupting the proceedings again.

Gibson calmed down for a bit. But as the first few witnesses offered testimony, he continued to pepper the hearing with commentary, contesting things said by witnesses or complaining that they weren’t telling the truth. Simmons again warned him to stop, and at one point she took a break for Gibson to cool off.

Finally, when one of Gibson’s former friends testified against him — and implicated him in the killing of his mother and Lugo — Gibson lost his composure, screaming that the woman’s testimony was a lie and continuing to protest as he was hauled out of the courtroom by sheriff’s deputies.

Simmons said she’d had enough, and ordered Gibson to agree to be muzzled or allow the case to proceed without him. He opted to be sent back to jail.

Witnesses who testified said he’d killed his mother in February 2021 as she was taking steps to remove him from her life insurance policy. One witness, a former friend of Gibson’s, told Assistant District Attorney Joanne Pescatore that Gibson had boasted about being eligible for a payout because of his mother’s death.

In the other two killings, authorities said, he pulled the trigger after committing a robbery — fatally shooting Flores and Caban at the Al-Madinah Traders store in North Philadelphia after stealing watches and potentially an ATM card, and killing Lugo after taking cash from her during an early-morning shift at the Dunkin’ on the 500 block of Lehigh Avenue.

Gibson is due back in court next month for a hearing on the new contempt charges.

If he’s convicted in each of the murder cases, he faces the possibility of having four life sentences imposed on top of the seven life sentences he’s already received in Delaware.