diff --git a/src/formats/common.c b/src/formats/common.c
index 94f88e6..50e4780 100644
--- a/src/formats/common.c
+++ b/src/formats/common.c
@@ -46,12 +46,14 @@ format_send_error(struct cmd *cmd, short code, const char *msg) {
 		resp->http_version = cmd->http_version;
 		http_response_set_keep_alive(resp, cmd->keep_alive);
 		http_response_write(resp, cmd->fd);
+	} else if(cmd->is_websocket && !cmd->http_client->ws->close_after_events) {
+		ws_frame_and_send_response(cmd->http_client->ws, WS_BINARY_FRAME, msg, strlen(msg));
 	}
 
 	/* for pub/sub, remove command from client */
 	if(cmd->pub_sub_client) {
 		cmd->pub_sub_client->self_cmd = NULL;
-	} else {
+	} else if (!cmd->is_websocket) { /* don't free persistent cmd */
 		cmd_free(cmd);
 	}
 }
diff --git a/src/websocket.c b/src/websocket.c
index af31577..27358ea 100644
--- a/src/websocket.c
+++ b/src/websocket.c
@@ -123,11 +123,14 @@ ws_client_new(struct http_client *http_client) {
 static void
 ws_client_free(struct ws_client *ws) {
 
+	/* mark WS client as closing to skip the Redis callback */
+	ws->close_after_events = 1;
+	pool_free_context(ws->ac); /* could trigger a cb via format_send_error */
+
 	struct http_client *c = ws->http_client;
 	c->ws = NULL; /* detach */
 	evbuffer_free(ws->rbuf);
 	evbuffer_free(ws->wbuf);
-	pool_free_context(ws->ac);
 	if(ws->cmd) {
 		ws->cmd->ac = NULL; /* we've just free'd it */
 		cmd_free(ws->cmd);
@@ -526,6 +529,7 @@ ws_frame_and_send_response(struct ws_client *ws, enum ws_frame_type frame_type,
 
 static void
 ws_close_if_able(struct ws_client *ws) {
+	ws->close_after_events = 1; /* note that we're closing */
 	if(ws->scheduled_read || ws->scheduled_write) {
 		return; /* still waiting for these events to trigger */
 	}