diff --git a/gnocchi/indexer/sqlalchemy.py b/gnocchi/indexer/sqlalchemy.py
index 6fabbfae6..1cb8d6888 100644
--- a/gnocchi/indexer/sqlalchemy.py
+++ b/gnocchi/indexer/sqlalchemy.py
@@ -783,7 +783,8 @@ class SQLAlchemyIndexer(indexer.IndexerDriver):
     def delete_metric(self, id):
         with self.facade.writer() as session:
             if session.query(Metric).filter(
-                    Metric.id == id).update({"status": "delete"}) == 0:
+                Metric.id == id, Metric.status == 'active').update(
+                    {"status": "delete"}) == 0:
                 raise indexer.NoSuchMetric(id)
 
 
diff --git a/gnocchi/tests/gabbi/gabbits/metric.yaml b/gnocchi/tests/gabbi/gabbits/metric.yaml
index 735dd7c78..e9ef78bcd 100644
--- a/gnocchi/tests/gabbi/gabbits/metric.yaml
+++ b/gnocchi/tests/gabbi/gabbits/metric.yaml
@@ -278,6 +278,10 @@ tests:
       method: DELETE
       status: 204
 
+    - name: delete metric again
+      DELETE: $LAST_URL
+      status: 404
+
     - name: delete non existent metric
       url: /v1/metric/foo
       method: DELETE
diff --git a/gnocchi/tests/test_indexer.py b/gnocchi/tests/test_indexer.py
index ec4b6ea6a..7cfdb3e4a 100644
--- a/gnocchi/tests/test_indexer.py
+++ b/gnocchi/tests/test_indexer.py
@@ -584,13 +584,7 @@ class TestIndexerDriver(tests_base.TestCase):
         rc = self.index.create_resource('generic', r1, user, project,
                                         metrics={'foo': e1, 'bar': e2})
         self.index.delete_metric(e1)
-        # It can be called twice
-        try:
-            self.index.delete_metric(e1)
-        except indexer.NoSuchMetric:
-            # It's possible that the metric has been expunged by another
-            # parallel test. No worry.
-            pass
+        self.assertRaises(indexer.NoSuchMetric, self.index.delete_metric, e1)
         r = self.index.get_resource('generic', r1, with_metrics=True)
         self.assertIsNotNone(r.started_at)
         self.assertIsNotNone(r.revision_start)
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index fa9a61ea1..2aba8a3e7 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ doc =
     Jinja2
 test =
     pifpaf>=0.1.0
-    gabbi>=0.101.2
+    gabbi>=1.19.0
     coverage>=3.6
     fixtures
     mock