diff --git a/tools/iio/iio_event_monitor.c b/tools/iio/iio_event_monitor.c
index f6fdab48d3405c705e8d0436404aa8a8a36ab4d9..578390db1bec2df150bca79563e43a47e63c9c5e 100644
--- a/tools/iio/iio_event_monitor.c
+++ b/tools/iio/iio_event_monitor.c
@@ -275,15 +275,17 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 	}
 
 	ret = ioctl(fd, IIO_GET_EVENT_FD_IOCTL, &event_fd);
-
-	close(fd);
-
 	if (ret == -1 || event_fd == -1) {
 		ret = -errno;
 		fprintf(stdout, "Failed to retrieve event fd\n");
+		if (close(fd) == -1)
+			perror("Failed to close character device file");
+
 		goto error_free_chrdev_name;
 	}
 
+	close(fd);
+
 	while (true) {
 		ret = read(event_fd, &event, sizeof(event));
 		if (ret == -1) {