While Ferguson rages, all remains calm in Kansas City

Ferguson, Missouri, erupted in flames Monday evening and into the Tuesday-morning hours after a grand jury declined to indict a police officer there for shooting an unarmed teenager to death August 9.

Relative calm seemed to follow in the moments after St. Louis County prosecutor Robert McCullouch’s press conference explained why Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson would not face a trial on state criminal charges for shooting Michael Brown. But within hours, brickbats flew across the night sky in Ferguson and its environs, triggering what authorities there say inflicted worse damage and chaos than the prolonged demonstrations that took place in August. 

Kansas City Police Chief Darryl Forte reported no noteworthy incidents or increased calls for service. He described peaceful demonstrations in Kansas City, which he anticipated would continue throughout the week. 

Kansas City Mayor Sly James released a statement about the grand jury decision, in which he talked in large part about himself. You can read that here.

McCullouch’s roughly 45-minute press conference leveled criticism at nearly all the institutions at the periphery of the August 9 shooting — news outlets, social media and witnesses — except for the police. McCullouch convened the grand jury to analyze whether sufficient probable cause existed to send Wilson to trial. The case seemed to hinge on whether Wilson felt that he faced sufficient danger from Brown, who charged at the officer at one point, to justify the shooting. The grand jury found Wilson’s testimony persuasive.

Wilson is still the subject of a federal investigation, although The Washington Post reported yesterday, citing anonymous sources, that the feds didn’t appear to have much of a case against the officer.