According to his attorney Neil Bruntrager on Saturday, Darren Wilson has decided to step down as a law enforcement officer "of his own free will" after the Ferguson police said they had received threats of violence if he was to remain within the department.
The resignation is "effective immediately", said Bruntrager. Wilson has been on paid administrative leave since the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown on Aug 9.
"I'm not willing to let someone else get hurt because of me," said Wilson in an interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He had been with the department for six years.
The shooting occurred in broad daylight in the middle of a street, and some witnesses have said Brown had his hands up when he was shot. According to the testimony he gave to a grand jury, Wilson said Brown hit him and then reached for his gun before he opened fire.
The unarmed 18-year-old's body lay in the street for more than four hours as police investigated the shooting. Protests began shortly thereafter and many people were injured by rubber bullets and tear gas used by riot police in the tense several days following the incident. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon called in the National Guard for assistance.
The announcement that Wilson would not be indicted on any charges came Monday, following the more than three month long investigation by a grand jury. Protests sprung up around the world in solidarity with Ferguson, where several commercial buildings and a police cruiser were engulfed in flames after being ignited by angered citizens.
The Justice Department is conducting a civil rights investigation into the shooting and a separate investigation of police department practices.
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