diff --git a/interface/src/avatar/AvatarManager.cpp b/interface/src/avatar/AvatarManager.cpp
index b9e30a38eb..443d19e473 100644
--- a/interface/src/avatar/AvatarManager.cpp
+++ b/interface/src/avatar/AvatarManager.cpp
@@ -443,6 +443,11 @@ void AvatarManager::handleRemovedAvatar(const AvatarSharedPointer& removedAvatar
     avatar->die();
     queuePhysicsChange(avatar);
 
+    // remove this avatar's entities from the tree now, if we wait (as we did previously) for this Avatar's destructor
+    // it might not fire until after we create a new instance for the same remote avatar, which creates a race
+    // on the creation of entities for that avatar instance and the deletion of entities for this instance
+    avatar->removeAvatarEntitiesFromTree();
+
     if (removalReason == KillAvatarReason::TheirAvatarEnteredYourBubble) {
         emit DependencyManager::get<UsersScriptingInterface>()->enteredIgnoreRadius();
     } else if (removalReason == KillAvatarReason::AvatarDisconnected) {
diff --git a/libraries/avatars-renderer/src/avatars-renderer/Avatar.cpp b/libraries/avatars-renderer/src/avatars-renderer/Avatar.cpp
index cadc3b31e3..914a3b7c6e 100644
--- a/libraries/avatars-renderer/src/avatars-renderer/Avatar.cpp
+++ b/libraries/avatars-renderer/src/avatars-renderer/Avatar.cpp
@@ -131,17 +131,6 @@ Avatar::Avatar(QThread* thread) :
 }
 
 Avatar::~Avatar() {
-    auto treeRenderer = DependencyManager::get<EntityTreeRenderer>();
-    EntityTreePointer entityTree = treeRenderer ? treeRenderer->getTree() : nullptr;
-    if (entityTree) {
-        entityTree->withWriteLock([&] {
-            AvatarEntityMap avatarEntities = getAvatarEntityData();
-            for (auto entityID : avatarEntities.keys()) {
-                entityTree->deleteEntity(entityID, true, true);
-            }
-        });
-    }
-
     auto geometryCache = DependencyManager::get<GeometryCache>();
     if (geometryCache) {
         geometryCache->releaseID(_nameRectGeometryID);
@@ -386,6 +375,19 @@ void Avatar::updateAvatarEntities() {
     setAvatarEntityDataChanged(false);
 }
 
+void Avatar::removeAvatarEntitiesFromTree() {
+    auto treeRenderer = DependencyManager::get<EntityTreeRenderer>();
+    EntityTreePointer entityTree = treeRenderer ? treeRenderer->getTree() : nullptr;
+    if (entityTree) {
+        entityTree->withWriteLock([&] {
+            AvatarEntityMap avatarEntities = getAvatarEntityData();
+            for (auto entityID : avatarEntities.keys()) {
+                entityTree->deleteEntity(entityID, true, true);
+            }
+        });
+    }
+}
+
 void Avatar::relayJointDataToChildren() {
     forEachChild([&](SpatiallyNestablePointer child) {
         if (child->getNestableType() == NestableType::Entity) {
diff --git a/libraries/avatars-renderer/src/avatars-renderer/Avatar.h b/libraries/avatars-renderer/src/avatars-renderer/Avatar.h
index 3482c3c193..4f1c010d84 100644
--- a/libraries/avatars-renderer/src/avatars-renderer/Avatar.h
+++ b/libraries/avatars-renderer/src/avatars-renderer/Avatar.h
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ public:
 
     void init();
     void updateAvatarEntities();
+    void removeAvatarEntitiesFromTree();
     void simulate(float deltaTime, bool inView);
     virtual void simulateAttachments(float deltaTime);