diff --git a/src/lxc/lxc-destroy.in b/src/lxc/lxc-destroy.in
index c72f18a33..152749574 100644
--- a/src/lxc/lxc-destroy.in
+++ b/src/lxc/lxc-destroy.in
@@ -94,14 +94,14 @@ if [ ! -d "$lxc_path/$lxc_name" ]; then
     exit 1
 fi
 
-# make sure the container isn't running
-lxc-info -n $lxc_name 2>/dev/null | grep -q RUNNING
-if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
+# make sure the container is stopped
+state=`lxc-info -n $lxc_name 2>/dev/null | head -1 |awk '{print $2}'`
+if [ $state != "STOPPED" ]; then
     if [ $force -eq 1 ]; then
         lxc-stop -n $lxc_name
         lxc-wait -n $lxc_name -s STOPPED
     else
-        echo "$(basename $0): '$lxc_name' is running; aborted" >&2
+        echo "$(basename $0): '$lxc_name' is $state; aborted" >&2
         exit 1
     fi
 fi