CLAYTON • Officer Darren Wilson will not face state criminal charges in the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson.

St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert P. McCulloch announced Monday night that a grand jury delivered a "no true bill" after considering possible charges in the case, meaning an indictment will not be handed down.

The grand jury considered a range of charges from murder in the first degree to involuntary manslaughter, McCulloch said, before returning the decision not to indict.

"As tragic as this is, it was a not a crime," McCulloch said. "It doesn't lessen this tragedy. There is still a loss of life here. The family is going to have that loss forever.

"No young man should ever be killed by a police officer. And no police officer should ever be put in that position."

He said the protests spawned by the shooting have started an important conversation.

"It's opened old wounds and given us an opportunity to address those wounds," he said. "I urge everybody who's engaged in the conversation, who's engaged in the demonstrations, to keep that going and not let that go."