diff --git a/libraries/entities/src/EntityItem.cpp b/libraries/entities/src/EntityItem.cpp
index 23ce097cc2..5996327e87 100644
--- a/libraries/entities/src/EntityItem.cpp
+++ b/libraries/entities/src/EntityItem.cpp
@@ -89,7 +89,8 @@ EntityItem::EntityItem(const EntityItemID& entityItemID) :
 
 EntityItem::~EntityItem() {
     // clear out any left-over actions
-    EntityTreePointer entityTree = _element ? _element->getTree() : nullptr;
+    EntityTreeElementPointer element = _element; // use local copy of _element for logic below
+    EntityTreePointer entityTree = element ? element->getTree() : nullptr;
     EntitySimulationPointer simulation = entityTree ? entityTree->getSimulation() : nullptr;
     if (simulation) {
         clearActions(simulation);
@@ -880,8 +881,9 @@ int EntityItem::readEntityDataFromBuffer(const unsigned char* data, int bytesLef
     // Tracking for editing roundtrips here. We will tell our EntityTree that we just got incoming data about
     // and entity that was edited at some time in the past. The tree will determine how it wants to track this
     // information.
-    if (_element && _element->getTree()) {
-        _element->getTree()->trackIncomingEntityLastEdited(lastEditedFromBufferAdjusted, bytesRead);
+    EntityTreeElementPointer element = _element; // use local copy of _element for logic below
+    if (element && element->getTree()) {
+        element->getTree()->trackIncomingEntityLastEdited(lastEditedFromBufferAdjusted, bytesRead);
     }
 
 
@@ -2056,7 +2058,8 @@ bool EntityItem::removeActionInternal(const QUuid& actionID, EntitySimulationPoi
     _previouslyDeletedActions.insert(actionID, usecTimestampNow());
     if (_objectActions.contains(actionID)) {
         if (!simulation) {
-            EntityTreePointer entityTree = _element ? _element->getTree() : nullptr;
+        EntityTreeElementPointer element = _element; // use local copy of _element for logic below
+            EntityTreePointer entityTree = element ? element->getTree() : nullptr;
             simulation = entityTree ? entityTree->getSimulation() : nullptr;
         }
 
diff --git a/libraries/entities/src/EntityTreeElement.cpp b/libraries/entities/src/EntityTreeElement.cpp
index 4177724d1e..108cb39222 100644
--- a/libraries/entities/src/EntityTreeElement.cpp
+++ b/libraries/entities/src/EntityTreeElement.cpp
@@ -885,10 +885,10 @@ EntityItemPointer EntityTreeElement::getEntityWithEntityItemID(const EntityItemI
 void EntityTreeElement::cleanupEntities() {
     withWriteLock([&] {
         foreach(EntityItemPointer entity, _entityItems) {
+            // NOTE: only EntityTreeElement should ever be changing the value of entity->_element
             // NOTE: We explicitly don't delete the EntityItem here because since we only
             // access it by smart pointers, when we remove it from the _entityItems
             // we know that it will be deleted.
-            //delete entity;
             entity->_element = NULL;
         }
         _entityItems.clear();
@@ -903,6 +903,7 @@ bool EntityTreeElement::removeEntityWithEntityItemID(const EntityItemID& id) {
             EntityItemPointer& entity = _entityItems[i];
             if (entity->getEntityItemID() == id) {
                 foundEntity = true;
+                // NOTE: only EntityTreeElement should ever be changing the value of entity->_element
                 entity->_element = NULL;
                 _entityItems.removeAt(i);
                 break;
@@ -918,6 +919,7 @@ bool EntityTreeElement::removeEntityItem(EntityItemPointer entity) {
         numEntries = _entityItems.removeAll(entity);
     });
     if (numEntries > 0) {
+        // NOTE: only EntityTreeElement should ever be changing the value of entity->_element
         assert(entity->_element.get() == this);
         entity->_element = NULL;
         return true;