diff --git a/amazon-kinesis-client/pom.xml b/amazon-kinesis-client/pom.xml
index 551fe0a40..09c0ace38 100644
--- a/amazon-kinesis-client/pom.xml
+++ b/amazon-kinesis-client/pom.xml
@@ -122,6 +122,13 @@
     </dependency>
 
     <!-- Test -->
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.awaitility</groupId>
+      <artifactId>awaitility</artifactId>
+      <version>3.0.0</version>
+      <scope>test</scope>
+    </dependency>
+
     <dependency>
       <groupId>junit</groupId>
       <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
diff --git a/amazon-kinesis-client/src/test/java/software/amazon/kinesis/lifecycle/ShardConsumerTest.java b/amazon-kinesis-client/src/test/java/software/amazon/kinesis/lifecycle/ShardConsumerTest.java
index 42f88b12f..82acbf5e1 100644
--- a/amazon-kinesis-client/src/test/java/software/amazon/kinesis/lifecycle/ShardConsumerTest.java
+++ b/amazon-kinesis-client/src/test/java/software/amazon/kinesis/lifecycle/ShardConsumerTest.java
@@ -32,7 +32,9 @@
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.doThrow;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.never;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.reset;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.spy;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.timeout;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.times;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.verifyNoMoreInteractions;
@@ -45,6 +47,7 @@
 import java.util.Optional;
 import java.util.concurrent.BrokenBarrierException;
 import java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture;
+import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch;
 import java.util.concurrent.CyclicBarrier;
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
@@ -53,8 +56,10 @@
 import java.util.concurrent.ThreadFactory;
 import java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
 import java.util.function.Function;
 
+import org.awaitility.Awaitility;
 import org.junit.After;
 import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.Ignore;
@@ -62,7 +67,9 @@
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.junit.rules.TestName;
 import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+import org.mockito.ArgumentCaptor;
 import org.mockito.Mock;
+import org.mockito.MockitoAnnotations;
 import org.mockito.invocation.InvocationOnMock;
 import org.mockito.runners.MockitoJUnitRunner;
 import org.reactivestreams.Subscriber;
@@ -148,6 +155,7 @@ public class ShardConsumerTest {
 
     @Before
     public void before() {
+        MockitoAnnotations.initMocks(this);
         shardInfo = new ShardInfo(shardId, concurrencyToken, null, ExtendedSequenceNumber.TRIM_HORIZON);
         ThreadFactory factory = new ThreadFactoryBuilder().setNameFormat("test-" + testName.getMethodName() + "-%04d")
                 .setDaemon(true).build();
@@ -848,6 +856,106 @@ public void testLongRunningTasks() throws Exception {
         verifyNoMoreInteractions(taskExecutionListener);
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testEmptyShardProcessingRaceCondition() throws Exception {
+        RecordsPublisher mockPublisher = mock(RecordsPublisher.class);
+        ExecutorService mockExecutor = mock(ExecutorService.class);
+        ConsumerState mockState = mock(ConsumerState.class);
+        ShardConsumer consumer = new ShardConsumer(mockPublisher, mockExecutor, shardInfo, Optional.of(1L),
+            shardConsumerArgument, mockState, Function.identity(), 1, taskExecutionListener, 0);
+
+        when(mockState.state()).thenReturn(ShardConsumerState.WAITING_ON_PARENT_SHARDS);
+        when(mockState.taskType()).thenReturn(TaskType.BLOCK_ON_PARENT_SHARDS);
+        ConsumerTask mockTask = mock(ConsumerTask.class);
+        when(mockState.createTask(any(), any(), any())).thenReturn(mockTask);
+        when(mockTask.call()).thenReturn(new TaskResult(false));
+
+        // Invoke async processing of blocked on parent task
+        consumer.executeLifecycle();
+        ArgumentCaptor<Runnable> taskToExecute = ArgumentCaptor.forClass(Runnable.class);
+        verify(mockExecutor, timeout(100)).execute(taskToExecute.capture());
+        taskToExecute.getValue().run();
+        reset(mockExecutor);
+
+        // move to initializing state and
+        // Invoke async processing of initialize state
+        when(mockState.successTransition()).thenReturn(mockState);
+        when(mockState.state()).thenReturn(ShardConsumerState.INITIALIZING);
+        when(mockState.taskType()).thenReturn(TaskType.INITIALIZE);
+        consumer.executeLifecycle();
+        verify(mockExecutor, timeout(100)).execute(taskToExecute.capture());
+        taskToExecute.getValue().run();
+
+        // Move to processing state
+        // and complete initialization future successfully
+        when(mockState.state()).thenReturn(ShardConsumerState.PROCESSING);
+        consumer.executeLifecycle();
+
+        // Simulate the race where
+        // scheduler invokes executeLifecycle which performs Publisher.subscribe(subscriber)
+        // on recordProcessor thread
+        // but before scheduler thread finishes initialization, handleInput is invoked
+        // on record processor thread.
+
+        // Since ShardConsumer creates its own instance of subscriber that cannot be mocked
+        // this test sequence will appear a little odd.
+        // In order to control the order in which execution occurs, lets first invoke
+        // handleInput, although this will never happen, since there isn't a way
+        // to control the precise timing of the thread execution, this is the best way
+        CountDownLatch processTaskLatch = new CountDownLatch(1);
+        new Thread(() -> {
+            reset(mockState);
+            when(mockState.taskType()).thenReturn(TaskType.PROCESS);
+            ConsumerTask mockProcessTask = mock(ConsumerTask.class);
+            when(mockState.createTask(any(), any(), any())).thenReturn(mockProcessTask);
+            CountDownLatch waitForSubscribeLatch = new CountDownLatch(1);
+            when(mockProcessTask.call()).then(input -> {
+                // first we want to wait for subscribe to be called,
+                // but we cannot control the timing, so wait for 10 seconds
+                // to let the main thread invoke executeLifecyle which
+                // will perform subscribe
+                processTaskLatch.countDown();
+                log.info("Waiting for countdown latch");
+                waitForSubscribeLatch.await(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+                log.info("Waiting for countdown latch - DONE");
+                // then return shard end result
+                return new TaskResult(true);
+            });
+            Subscription mockSubscription = mock(Subscription.class);
+            consumer.handleInput(ProcessRecordsInput.builder().isAtShardEnd(true).build(), mockSubscription);
+        }).start();
+
+        processTaskLatch.await();
+
+        // now invoke lifecycle which should invoke subscribe
+        // but since we cannot countdown the latch, the latch will timeout
+        // meanwhile if scheduler tries to acquire the ShardConsumer lock it will
+        // be blocked during initialization processing. Thereby creating the
+        // race condition we want.
+        reset(mockState);
+        AtomicBoolean successTransitionCalled = new AtomicBoolean(false);
+        when(mockState.successTransition()).then(input -> {
+            successTransitionCalled.set(true);
+            return mockState;
+        });
+        AtomicBoolean shutdownTransitionCalled = new AtomicBoolean(false);
+        when(mockState.shutdownTransition(any())).then(input -> {
+            shutdownTransitionCalled.set(true);
+            return mockState;
+        });
+        when(mockState.state()).then(input -> {
+           if (successTransitionCalled.get() && shutdownTransitionCalled.get()) {
+               return ShardConsumerState.SHUTTING_DOWN;
+           }
+           return ShardConsumerState.PROCESSING;
+        });
+        consumer.executeLifecycle();
+        // initialization should be done by now, make sure shard consumer did not
+        // perform shutdown processing yet.
+        verify(mockState, times(0)).shutdownTransition(any());
+    }
+
+
     private void mockSuccessfulShutdown(CyclicBarrier taskCallBarrier) {
         mockSuccessfulShutdown(taskCallBarrier, null);
     }