Ferguson Mayor: No Severance Pay For Darren Wilson

The mayor of Ferguson, Missouri has said that Police Officer Darren Wilson will not be receiving his severance package after he was not indicted for criminal charges in the shooting of Michael Brown.

Mayor James Knowles said during a press conference Sunday that although Wilson was not asked to leave the police force, city officials thought "it's best that we continue to move on as a community" without the 28-year-old officer, who shot and killed unarmed teen Michael Brown back in August.

"Now is the time for the city of Ferguson to begin its healing process, with the citizens of Ferguson and the Police Department," Knowles said at the press conference, as reported by the New York Times. "We truly understand that the past few months have been very difficult for everyone involved."

Wilson reportedly wrote in his resignation letter that his "continued employment may put the residents and police officers of the City of Ferguson at risk, which is a circumstance I cannot allow."

The officer's lawyer, Neil Bruntrager, told the Associated Press that Wilson and the local police department had already been discussing a possibly departure when the department began receiving alleged threats that targeted local police buildings. The threats expedited Wilson's departure, Bruntrager said.

"The information we had was that there would be actions targeting the Ferguson (police) department or buildings in Ferguson related to the police department," the lawyer said.

Following the grand jury announcement that Wilson would not be indicted for his shooting of Brown, throngs of protesters took to the streets. While some protests were peaceful, others involved the looting of stores and the burning of small businesses.