diff --git a/test/core/end2end/tests/filter_causes_close.c b/test/core/end2end/tests/filter_causes_close.c
index e74d3239de9d672f6746e0236c3a5181e90940d5..9f9ee856485c455f82f286e5905d50ac8278d2de 100644
--- a/test/core/end2end/tests/filter_causes_close.c
+++ b/test/core/end2end/tests/filter_causes_close.c
@@ -207,10 +207,7 @@ static void recv_im_ready(grpc_exec_ctx *exec_ctx, void *arg, bool success) {
   call_data *calld = elem->call_data;
   if (success) {
     // close the stream with an error.
-    gpr_slice message;
-    grpc_transport_stream_op close_op;
-    memset(&close_op, 0, sizeof(close_op));
-    message =
+    gpr_slice message =
         gpr_slice_from_copied_string("Random failure that's not preventable.");
     grpc_transport_stream_op op;
     memset(&op, 0, sizeof(op));