diff --git a/docs/pages/resources/changelog.md b/docs/pages/resources/changelog.md
index df0c4b84b..854ec54ed 100644
--- a/docs/pages/resources/changelog.md
+++ b/docs/pages/resources/changelog.md
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ New versions of Shoelace are released as-needed and generally occur when a criti
 - Fixed a bug in `<sl-qr-code>` where the `background` attribute was never passed to the QR code [#1416]
 - Fixed a bug in `<sl-dropdown>` where aria attributes were incorrectly applied to the default `<slot>` causing Lighthouse errors [#1417]
 - Fixed a bug in `<sl-carousel>` that caused navigation to work incorrectly in some case [#1420]
+- Fixed a bug in `<sl-tree>` that caused focus to be stolen when removing focused tree items [#1428]
 
 ## 2.5.2
 
diff --git a/src/components/tree/tree.ts b/src/components/tree/tree.ts
index 3c6156111..9889f530e 100644
--- a/src/components/tree/tree.ts
+++ b/src/components/tree/tree.ts
@@ -159,14 +159,8 @@ export default class SlTree extends ShoelaceElement {
   private handleTreeChanged = (mutations: MutationRecord[]) => {
     for (const mutation of mutations) {
       const addedNodes: SlTreeItem[] = [...mutation.addedNodes].filter(SlTreeItem.isTreeItem) as SlTreeItem[];
-      const removedNodes = [...mutation.removedNodes].filter(SlTreeItem.isTreeItem) as SlTreeItem[];
 
       addedNodes.forEach(this.initTreeItem);
-
-      // If the focused item has been removed form the DOM, move the focus to the first focusable item
-      if (removedNodes.includes(this.lastFocusedItem)) {
-        this.focusItem(this.getFocusableItems()[0]);
-      }
     }
   };