Sadly, the people who are about to riot don’t care about the merits of the case or the reasons for a mistrial. They aren’t interested in justice. They are interested in revenge.

BALTIMORE (AP) — The first trial in the death of Freddie Gray ended in a mistrial Wednesday, with jurors saying they couldn’t determine whether a Baltimore police was criminally responsible for the man’s death. Officials appealed for calm in the aftermath of the trial, and small crowds of protesters demonstrated along streets lined with police officers.

Officer William Porter’s trial was the first test of prosecutors’ case against six officers in a city struggling to rein in violent crime. The case hinged not on what Porter did, but what prosecutors said he didn’t do. He was accused of failing to get medical help for a critically wounded Gray and was charged with manslaughter, assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment. Gray’s injury in police custody sparked weeks of protests and fueled the nation’s scrutiny of how police treat black suspects.