diff --git a/src/pipeline.ts b/src/pipeline.ts
index afbad7b5..9f99520b 100644
--- a/src/pipeline.ts
+++ b/src/pipeline.ts
@@ -116,22 +116,8 @@ async function storeEvent(event: DittoEvent, signal?: AbortSignal): Promise<void
   const store = await Storages.db();
   const kysely = await DittoDB.getInstance();
 
-  try {
-    await kysely.transaction().execute(async (trx) => {
-      await updateStats({ event, store, kysely: trx });
-      await store.event(event, { signal });
-    });
-  } catch (e) {
-    if (e.message === 'Cannot add a deleted event') {
-      throw new RelayError('blocked', 'event deleted by user');
-    } else if (e.message === 'Cannot replace an event with an older event') {
-      return;
-    } else if (e.message === 'ERROR The transaction "TRANSACTION_NAME" has been aborted') {
-      return; // useless error message, probably from deno-postgres
-    } else {
-      debug('ERROR', e.message);
-    }
-  }
+  await updateStats({ event, store, kysely }).catch(debug);
+  await store.event(event, { signal });
 }
 
 /** Parse kind 0 metadata and track indexes in the database. */
diff --git a/src/storages/EventsDB.test.ts b/src/storages/EventsDB.test.ts
index 74068e94..16b429d4 100644
--- a/src/storages/EventsDB.test.ts
+++ b/src/storages/EventsDB.test.ts
@@ -2,12 +2,14 @@ import { Database as Sqlite } from '@db/sqlite';
 import { DenoSqlite3Dialect } from '@soapbox/kysely-deno-sqlite';
 import { assertEquals, assertRejects } from '@std/assert';
 import { Kysely } from 'kysely';
+import { generateSecretKey } from 'nostr-tools';
 
 import { Conf } from '@/config.ts';
 import { DittoDB } from '@/db/DittoDB.ts';
 import { DittoTables } from '@/db/DittoTables.ts';
+import { RelayError } from '@/RelayError.ts';
 import { EventsDB } from '@/storages/EventsDB.ts';
-import { eventFixture } from '@/test.ts';
+import { eventFixture, genEvent } from '@/test.ts';
 
 /** Create in-memory database for testing. */
 const createDB = async () => {
@@ -141,17 +143,49 @@ Deno.test('admin can delete any event', async () => {
   assertEquals(await eventsDB.query([{ kinds: [1] }]), [two]);
 });
 
+Deno.test('throws a RelayError when inserting an event deleted by the admin', async () => {
+  const { eventsDB } = await createDB();
+
+  const event = genEvent();
+  await eventsDB.event(event);
+
+  const deletion = genEvent({ kind: 5, tags: [['e', event.id]] }, Conf.seckey);
+  await eventsDB.event(deletion);
+
+  await assertRejects(
+    () => eventsDB.event(event),
+    RelayError,
+    'event deleted by admin',
+  );
+});
+
+Deno.test('throws a RelayError when inserting an event deleted by a user', async () => {
+  const { eventsDB } = await createDB();
+
+  const sk = generateSecretKey();
+
+  const event = genEvent({}, sk);
+  await eventsDB.event(event);
+
+  const deletion = genEvent({ kind: 5, tags: [['e', event.id]] }, sk);
+  await eventsDB.event(deletion);
+
+  await assertRejects(
+    () => eventsDB.event(event),
+    RelayError,
+    'event deleted by user',
+  );
+});
+
 Deno.test('inserting replaceable events', async () => {
   const { eventsDB } = await createDB();
 
   const event = await eventFixture('event-0');
   await eventsDB.event(event);
 
-  await assertRejects(async () => {
-    const olderEvent = { ...event, id: '123', created_at: event.created_at - 1 };
-    await eventsDB.event(olderEvent);
-    assertEquals(await eventsDB.query([{ kinds: [0], authors: [event.pubkey] }]), [event]);
-  });
+  const olderEvent = { ...event, id: '123', created_at: event.created_at - 1 };
+  await eventsDB.event(olderEvent);
+  assertEquals(await eventsDB.query([{ kinds: [0], authors: [event.pubkey] }]), [event]);
 
   const newerEvent = { ...event, id: '123', created_at: event.created_at + 1 };
   await eventsDB.event(newerEvent);
diff --git a/src/storages/EventsDB.ts b/src/storages/EventsDB.ts
index 51a75af7..085a4270 100644
--- a/src/storages/EventsDB.ts
+++ b/src/storages/EventsDB.ts
@@ -59,7 +59,18 @@ class EventsDB implements NStore {
     }
 
     await this.deleteEventsAdmin(event);
-    await this.store.event(event);
+
+    try {
+      await this.store.event(event);
+    } catch (e) {
+      if (e.message === 'Cannot add a deleted event') {
+        throw new RelayError('blocked', 'event deleted by user');
+      } else if (e.message === 'Cannot replace an event with an older event') {
+        return;
+      } else {
+        this.console.debug('ERROR', e.message);
+      }
+    }
   }
 
   /** Check if an event has been deleted by the admin. */