UPDATE: Ferguson police officer who killed Michael Brown resigns

Darren Wilson, the Ferguson, Mo. police officer who shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown in August, sparking months of protests, announced his resignation from the police department on Saturday.

Wilson did not receive a severance package, the St. Louis suburb’s mayor James Knowles said at a press conference on Sunday.

Darren Wilson resigned from the Ferguson Police Department on Saturday, citing security fears. Credit: St. Louis County Prosecutor’s Office via Getty Images

“As far as the city of Ferguson is concerned, we have now severed ties with Officer Darren Wilson,” Knowles said. “Officer Wilson and his family have moved on, and at this point, the city of Ferguson is talking about how we can bring this city together.”

At Sunday’s press conference, Knowles also announced new community outreach programs, including a black recruitment initiative and scholarship. His aim, he said, is to make the department “more reflective of the demographics of our community.”

In his resignation letter, Wilson cited security concerns in his decision to leave the police department.

“I have been told that my continued employment may put the residents and police officers of the City of Ferguson at risk, which is a circumstance that I cannot allow,” Wilson wrote. “It was my hope to continue in police work, but the safety of other police officers and the community are of paramount importance to me.”

Wilson’s statement was posted in full on Saturday by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

I, Darren Wilson, hereby resign my commission as a police officer with the City of Ferguson effective immediately. I have been told that my continued employment may put the residents and police officers of the City of Ferguson at risk, which is a circumstance that I cannot allow. For obvious reasons, I wanted to wait until the grand jury made their decision before I officially made my decision to resign. It was my hope to continue in police work, but the safety of other police officers and the community are of paramount importance to me. It is my hope that my resignation will allow the community to heal. I would like to thank all of my supporters and fellow officers throughout this process.

Benjamin Crump, an attorney for Brown’s family, told the Associated Press on Saturday that Wilson’s resignation did not come as a surprise.

“It was always believed that the police officer would do what was in his best interest, both personally and professionally,” Crump told the AP. “We didn’t believe that he would be able to be effective for the Ferguson community nor the Ferguson Police Department because of the tragic circumstances that claimed the life of Michael Brown Jr.”

A grand jury decided not to indict Wilson in Brown’s death on Monday, inciting renewed and sometimes violent protests in Ferguson and in major cities around the country.

In an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on Tuesday, Wilson said he believed he acted in accordance with his training and the law when he fatally shot Brown, who was unarmed.

“I did my job and followed my training,” Wilson told Stephanopoulos. “The training took over.”