diff --git a/zerver/management/commands/runtornado.py b/zerver/management/commands/runtornado.py
index 134b140a01..514b343261 100644
--- a/zerver/management/commands/runtornado.py
+++ b/zerver/management/commands/runtornado.py
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
                 from zerver.tornado.ioloop_logging import logging_data
 
                 logging_data["port"] = str(port)
-                setup_event_queue(port)
+                setup_event_queue(http_server, port)
                 add_client_gc_hook(missedmessage_hook)
                 setup_tornado_rabbitmq()
 
diff --git a/zerver/tornado/event_queue.py b/zerver/tornado/event_queue.py
index 20d1a81b92..93697aac22 100644
--- a/zerver/tornado/event_queue.py
+++ b/zerver/tornado/event_queue.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ from typing import (
     List,
     Mapping,
     MutableMapping,
+    NoReturn,
     Optional,
     Sequence,
     Set,
@@ -603,12 +604,24 @@ def send_restart_events(immediate: bool = False) -> None:
             client.add_event(event)
 
 
-def setup_event_queue(port: int) -> None:
+def handle_sigterm(server: tornado.httpserver.HTTPServer) -> NoReturn:
+    logging.warning("Got SIGTERM, shutting down...")
+    server.stop()
+    tornado.ioloop.IOLoop.instance().stop()
+    sys.exit(1)
+
+
+def setup_event_queue(server: tornado.httpserver.HTTPServer, port: int) -> None:
+    ioloop = tornado.ioloop.IOLoop.instance()
+
     if not settings.TEST_SUITE:
         load_event_queues(port)
         atexit.register(dump_event_queues, port)
         # Make sure we dump event queues even if we exit via signal
-        signal.signal(signal.SIGTERM, lambda signum, stack: sys.exit(1))
+        signal.signal(
+            signal.SIGTERM,
+            lambda signum, frame: ioloop.add_callback_from_signal(handle_sigterm, server),
+        )
         add_reload_hook(lambda: dump_event_queues(port))
 
     try:
@@ -617,7 +630,6 @@ def setup_event_queue(port: int) -> None:
         pass
 
     # Set up event queue garbage collection
-    ioloop = tornado.ioloop.IOLoop.instance()
     pc = tornado.ioloop.PeriodicCallback(
         lambda: gc_event_queues(port), EVENT_QUEUE_GC_FREQ_MSECS, ioloop
     )