diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/handler/OpenRegionHandler.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/handler/OpenRegionHandler.java
index 1cfea6f5e0b..a0f2345f7a9 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/handler/OpenRegionHandler.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/handler/OpenRegionHandler.java
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ public class OpenRegionHandler extends EventHandler {
     }
     // Is thread still alive?  We may have left above loop because server is
     // stopping or we timed out the edit.  Is so, interrupt it.
-    if (t.isAlive()) {
+    if (t.isAlive() && !signaller.get()) {
       LOG.debug("Interrupting thread " + t);
       t.interrupt();
     }