diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 6929085a..d7526aed 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,10 +2,12 @@
 ### New features
 - [PR #1619](https://github.com/rqlite/rqlite/pull/1619): Support automatic `VACUUM` of the SQLite database. Fixes [#1609](https://github.com/rqlite/rqlite/issues/1609).
 
+## 8.16.8 (January 20th 2024)
 ### Implementation changes and bug fixes
 - [PR #1615](https://github.com/rqlite/rqlite/pull/1615): Add extensive WAL checkpoint test at the database level.
 - [PR #1616](https://github.com/rqlite/rqlite/pull/1616): Add time and checksum based change-detection functions to the database level.
 - [PR #1617](https://github.com/rqlite/rqlite/pull/1617): Add `VacuumInto` to database layer.
+- [PR #1621](https://github.com/rqlite/rqlite/pull/1621): Fix a panic in the rqlite shell by not stomping on an "outer" error.
 
 ## 8.16.7 (January 18th 2024)
 The releases changes the default logging level for the Raft subsystem from `INFO` to `WARN`. This results is less logging by the Raft subsystem. If you prefer the previous `INFO` level of logging, it can be re-enabled via the command line flag `-raft-log-level=INFO`.
diff --git a/cmd/rqlite/query.go b/cmd/rqlite/query.go
index e8534f67..35e9a8db 100644
--- a/cmd/rqlite/query.go
+++ b/cmd/rqlite/query.go
@@ -92,18 +92,17 @@ func queryWithClient(ctx *cli.Context, client *cl.Client, timer bool, consistenc
 		RawQuery: queryStr.Encode(),
 	}
 
-	resp, err := client.Query(u)
-
 	var hcr error
+	resp, err := client.Query(u)
 	if err != nil {
 		// If the error is HostChangedError, it should be propagated back to the caller to handle
 		// accordingly (change prompt display), but we should still assume that the request succeeded on some
 		// host and not treat it as an error.
-		err, ok := err.(*cl.HostChangedError)
+		innerErr, ok := err.(*cl.HostChangedError)
 		if !ok {
 			return err
 		}
-		hcr = err
+		hcr = innerErr
 	}
 
 	response, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)