diff --git a/internal/server/boltdbstate/runner.go b/internal/server/boltdbstate/runner.go
index 754ef621ed5..18442871f31 100644
--- a/internal/server/boltdbstate/runner.go
+++ b/internal/server/boltdbstate/runner.go
@@ -302,9 +302,10 @@ func (s *State) runnerSetAdoptionState(
 }
 
 func (s *State) runnerOffline(dbTxn *bolt.Tx, memTxn *memdb.Txn, id string) error {
+	var r *pb.Runner
+
 	r, err := s.runnerById(dbTxn, id)
 	if status.Code(err) == codes.NotFound {
-		r = nil
 		err = nil
 	}
 	if err != nil {