diff --git a/spec/text-editor-component-spec.coffee b/spec/text-editor-component-spec.coffee
index e12ee2660..a9dd255d8 100644
--- a/spec/text-editor-component-spec.coffee
+++ b/spec/text-editor-component-spec.coffee
@@ -1964,10 +1964,12 @@ describe "TextEditorComponent", ->
           gutterNode.dispatchEvent(buildMouseEvent('mouseup', clientCoordinatesForScreenRowInGutter(6), metaKey: true))
           expect(editor.getSelectedScreenRanges()).toEqual [[[3, 0], [3, 2]], [[4, 0], [7, 0]]]
 
-        it "merges overlapping selections", ->
+        it "merges overlapping selections when the mouse button is released", ->
           gutterNode.dispatchEvent(buildMouseEvent('mousedown', clientCoordinatesForScreenRowInGutter(2), metaKey: true))
           gutterNode.dispatchEvent(buildMouseEvent('mousemove', clientCoordinatesForScreenRowInGutter(6), metaKey: true))
           nextAnimationFrame()
+          expect(editor.getSelectedScreenRanges()).toEqual [[[3, 0], [3, 2]], [[2, 0], [7, 0]]]
+
           gutterNode.dispatchEvent(buildMouseEvent('mouseup', clientCoordinatesForScreenRowInGutter(6), metaKey: true))
           expect(editor.getSelectedScreenRanges()).toEqual [[[2, 0], [7, 0]]]
 
diff --git a/src/text-editor-component.coffee b/src/text-editor-component.coffee
index e070afd29..e526df22f 100644
--- a/src/text-editor-component.coffee
+++ b/src/text-editor-component.coffee
@@ -448,9 +448,6 @@ class TextEditorComponent
       else
         rowSelection.setBufferRange([[clickedBufferRow, 0], [dragBufferRow + 1, 0]], preserveFolds: true)
 
-      # After updating the selected screen range, merge overlapping selections
-      @editor.mergeIntersectingSelections(preserveFolds: true)
-
       # The merge process will possibly destroy the current selection because
       # it will be merged into another one. Therefore, we need to obtain a
       # reference to the new selection that contains the originally selected row