diff --git a/jetty-server/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/handler/ShutdownHandler.java b/jetty-server/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/handler/ShutdownHandler.java
index 810f48993d9..aa4edeb7f61 100644
--- a/jetty-server/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/handler/ShutdownHandler.java
+++ b/jetty-server/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/handler/ShutdownHandler.java
@@ -68,6 +68,8 @@ public class ShutdownHandler extends AbstractHandler
     private final Server _server;
 
     private boolean _exitJvm = false;
+  
+    
 
     /**
      * Creates a listener that lets the server be shut down remotely (but only from localhost).
@@ -110,18 +112,24 @@ public class ShutdownHandler extends AbstractHandler
 
         LOG.info("Shutting down by request from " + getRemoteAddr(request));
         
-        try
+        new Thread()
         {
-            shutdownServer();
-        }
-        catch (InterruptedException e)
-        {
-            LOG.ignore(e);
-        }
-        catch (Exception e)
-        {
-            throw new RuntimeException("Shutting down server",e);
-        }
+            public void run ()
+            {
+                try
+                {
+                    shutdownServer();
+                }
+                catch (InterruptedException e)
+                {
+                    LOG.ignore(e);
+                }
+                catch (Exception e)
+                {
+                    throw new RuntimeException("Shutting down server",e);
+                }
+            }
+        }.start();
     }
 
     private boolean requestFromLocalhost(HttpServletRequest request)
diff --git a/jetty-server/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/handler/ShutdownHandlerTest.java b/jetty-server/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/handler/ShutdownHandlerTest.java
index 02dae765e79..0d46cc17496 100644
--- a/jetty-server/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/handler/ShutdownHandlerTest.java
+++ b/jetty-server/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/handler/ShutdownHandlerTest.java
@@ -14,12 +14,18 @@ package org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler;
 //========================================================================
 
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
 
+import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+
 import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
 import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
 
 import org.eclipse.jetty.server.Server;
+import org.eclipse.jetty.util.component.AbstractLifeCycle;
+import org.eclipse.jetty.util.component.LifeCycle;
 import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.mockito.Mock;
@@ -48,8 +54,36 @@ public class ShutdownHandlerTest
     public void shutdownServerWithCorrectTokenAndIPTest() throws Exception
     {
         setDefaultExpectations();
+        final CountDownLatch countDown = new CountDownLatch(1);
+        server.addLifeCycleListener(new AbstractLifeCycle.Listener () 
+        {
+
+            public void lifeCycleStarting(LifeCycle event)
+            {
+            }
+
+            public void lifeCycleStarted(LifeCycle event)
+            {
+            }
+
+            public void lifeCycleFailure(LifeCycle event, Throwable cause)
+            {  
+            }
+
+            public void lifeCycleStopping(LifeCycle event)
+            {  
+            }
+
+            public void lifeCycleStopped(LifeCycle event)
+            {
+                countDown.countDown();
+            }
+            
+        });
         shutdownHandler.handle("/shutdown",null,request,response);
-        assertEquals("Server should be stopped","STOPPED",server.getState());
+        boolean stopped = countDown.await(1000, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS); //wait up to 1 sec to stop
+        assertTrue("Server lifecycle stop listener called", stopped);
+        assertEquals("Server should be stopped","STOPPED",server.getState());  
     }
 
     @Test