diff --git a/shard.go b/shard.go
index e3e2434175..60629b4ba5 100644
--- a/shard.go
+++ b/shard.go
@@ -4,9 +4,11 @@ import (
 	"encoding/binary"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
+	"sync"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/boltdb/bolt"
+	"github.com/influxdb/influxdb/messaging"
 )
 
 // ShardGroup represents a group of shards created for a single time range.
@@ -63,6 +65,9 @@ type Shard struct {
 	index uint64        // highest replicated index
 	store *bolt.DB      // underlying data store
 	conn  MessagingConn // streaming connection to broker
+
+	wg      sync.WaitGroup // pending goroutines
+	closing chan struct{}  // close notification
 }
 
 // newShard returns a new initialized Shard instance.
@@ -93,26 +98,35 @@ func (s *Shard) open(path string, conn MessagingConn) error {
 			s.index = btou64(buf)
 		}
 
+		// Open connection.
+		if err := conn.Open(s.index, true); err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("open shard conn: id=%d, idx=%d, err=%s", s.ID, s.index, err)
+		}
+
 		return nil
 	}); err != nil {
 		_ = s.close()
 		return fmt.Errorf("init: %s", err)
 	}
 
-	// Open connection.
-	if err := conn.Open(s.index, true); err != nil {
-		_ = s.close()
-		return fmt.Errorf("open shard conn: id=%d, idx=%d, err=%s", s.ID, s.index, err)
-	}
-
 	// Start importing from connection.
-	go s.processor(conn)
+	s.closing = make(chan struct{})
+	s.wg.Add(1)
+	go s.processor(conn, s.closing)
 
 	return nil
 }
 
 // close shuts down the shard's store.
 func (s *Shard) close() error {
+	// Wait for goroutines to stop.
+	if s.closing != nil {
+		close(s.closing)
+		s.closing = nil
+	}
+
+	s.wg.Wait()
+
 	if s.store != nil {
 		_ = s.store.Close()
 	}
@@ -201,12 +215,20 @@ func (s *Shard) dropSeries(seriesID uint32) error {
 }
 
 // processor runs in a separate goroutine and processes all incoming broker messages.
-func (s *Shard) processor(conn MessagingConn) {
+func (s *Shard) processor(conn MessagingConn, closing <-chan struct{}) {
+	defer s.wg.Done()
+
 	for {
 		// Read incoming message.
-		// Exit if the connection has been closed.
-		m, ok := <-conn.C()
-		if !ok {
+		// Exit if the connection has been closed or if shard is closing.
+		var ok bool
+		var m *messaging.Message
+		select {
+		case m, ok = <-conn.C():
+			if !ok {
+				return
+			}
+		case <-closing:
 			return
 		}