Riots erupted in Ferguson, Mo., last week after a white police officer shot and killed Michael Brown, an 18-year-old black man. The precise circumstances of Brown’s confrontation with Officer Darren Wilson are not clear, but according to witnesses Brown was unarmed, in the open, and raising his hands above his head at the time he was shot. The rioting and looting that followed are unjustifiable in a civilized society. Those throwing Molotov cocktails and committing other crimes aren’t protesting — they are endangering lives and property and should be prosecuted.

That said, there is still no satisfactory explanation for why Brown’s life ended this way — even if he was suspected in the strong-arm robbery of a box of cheap cigars, as Ferguson police assert. It is hard to imagine any situation in which sound law enforcement judgment would permit the shooting of an unarmed, fleeing suspect in the open on a residential street from 20 feet away.