diff --git a/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocket.cpp b/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocket.cpp
index c9619216..e272521a 100644
--- a/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocket.cpp
+++ b/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocket.cpp
@@ -385,7 +385,7 @@ namespace ix
                        size_t wireSize,
                        bool decompressionError,
                        WebSocketTransport::MessageKind messageKind) {
-                    WebSocketMessageType webSocketMessageType;
+                    WebSocketMessageType webSocketMessageType{WebSocketMessageType::Error};
                     switch (messageKind)
                     {
                         case WebSocketTransport::MessageKind::MSG_TEXT: