Why was the Ferguson grand jury decision announced at night?

The Ferguson, Missouri, crowd protesting after the announcement that Darren Wilson will not face any charges for killing Michael Brown has been described by reporters on the scene as smaller than the ones that gathered after Brown’s death in August. But the crowd is also overwhelmingly young and very angry. There have been reports of isolated gunshots and cars and buildings set on fire.

As MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, put it, “A lot of people just out and angry tonight.”

The night’s events have raised an important question: why did prosecutor Robert McCulloch choose to make the announcement at 8 pm instead of earlier in the day?

MSNBC’s Joy Reid said Monday night that, in choosing to announce the news after dark, authorities “deliberately almost left themselves with the people most committed to despair,” suggesting that those who were inclined to take to the streets at night were also the least organized and most agitated.

Although protests would have taken place regardless of the timing of McCulloch’s announcement that Darren Wilson wouldn’t be charged, it’s been reported that the timing had to do with schools and traffic. Given the massive anticipation and enormous well of frustration surrounding this decision, that does make some sense.

Still, it’s really hard to imagine the current scene in Ferguson happening at noon.

For many who’ve questioned the choices of law enforcement officials and politicians since the day Brown was killed in August, McCulloch’s timing was just the latest in a string of bad decisions.