diff --git a/roomserver/state/state.go b/roomserver/state/state.go
index 4ef30380f..d805d81c8 100644
--- a/roomserver/state/state.go
+++ b/roomserver/state/state.go
@@ -1036,7 +1036,6 @@ func (v *StateResolution) loadStateEvents(
 			eventNIDs = append(eventNIDs, entry.EventNID)
 		}
 	}
-	sort.Sort(eventNIDs)
 	events, err := v.db.Events(ctx, eventNIDs)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, nil, err
diff --git a/roomserver/storage/shared/storage.go b/roomserver/storage/shared/storage.go
index abcd3403b..3d165a197 100644
--- a/roomserver/storage/shared/storage.go
+++ b/roomserver/storage/shared/storage.go
@@ -433,8 +433,9 @@ func (d *Database) Events(
 }
 
 func (d *Database) events(
-	ctx context.Context, txn *sql.Tx, inputEventNIDs []types.EventNID,
+	ctx context.Context, txn *sql.Tx, inputEventNIDs types.EventNIDs,
 ) ([]types.Event, error) {
+	sort.Sort(inputEventNIDs)
 	events := make(map[types.EventNID]*gomatrixserverlib.Event, len(inputEventNIDs))
 	eventNIDs := make([]types.EventNID, 0, len(inputEventNIDs))
 	for _, nid := range inputEventNIDs {
@@ -496,7 +497,7 @@ func (d *Database) events(
 	for _, nid := range inputEventNIDs {
 		event, ok := events[nid]
 		if !ok || event == nil {
-			panic("missing event")
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("event %d missing", nid)
 		}
 		results = append(results, types.Event{
 			EventNID: nid,