Reaction to the decision not to charge Christopher Manney in Dontre Hamilton shooting death

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- City leaders across the Milwaukee area are speaking out about today's decision not to criminally charge former Milwaukee Police Officer Christopher Manning for fatally shooting Dontre Hamilton.

The city leaders FOX6 News spoke with on Monday, December 22nd, say whether you like the decision or not -- this is something we can all learn from.

"The decision today by District Attorney Chisholm does not in any way diminish the death of Dontre Hamilton and the suffering his family is experiencing," said Mayor Tom Barrett.

At a news conference on Monday morning, the mayor said this decision closes a chapter but will forever be a reminder that we have a lot of work to do to find common ground between police and the community.

"So just as I believe the vast majority of the Milwaukee Police Department officers are good people who are trying to do what's best for society, I believe the vast majority of people who are protesting are doing what they preserve to be best for our society," said Mayor Barrett.

But it's these protests like the one last Friday night that closed down I-43 that has Alderman Bob Donovan upset.

"This apparent war on the police concerns me a lot. I just hope to god that people can take a step back and take a deep breath and behave themselves and realize that the police officers, whether here in Milwaukee or across the nation, are often times a fine line that separates challenged neighborhoods from utter and total chaos and we ought to be thanking our cops for the great job that they do," said Alderman Bob Donovan.

These protesters don't believe that -- they wanted to see former Milwaukee Police Officer Christopher Manney charged with murder.

"I firmly believe that the district attorney did his very best to get to the bottom of this. The family has a lot of pain, anyone in their position who lost a child through violent death would be hurting. I think for those people disagreeing with this decision, you can make your voices heard but without hurting other people," said Common Council President, Michael Murphy.

And that's everyone's hope tonight, that if the protesters want to exercise their rights to demonstrate, they do it in a nonviolent way.

Reaction to the decision not to charge Christopher Manney in connection with the shooting death of Dontre Hamilton has been pouring in -- we have full statements below.

Jonathan Safran, attorney for the Hamilton said in a news release the following:

CLICK HERE to read Safran's complete, five-page statement.

Mike Crivello, President of the Milwaukee Police Association released the following statement:

The Coalition for Justice, which has been calling for charges against Manney all along, tweeted out the following:

ACLU of Wisconsin Executive Director Chris Ahmuty issued the following statement:

Milwaukee Common Council President Michael Murphy issued this statement:

Milwaukee Alderman Joe Davis issued this statement:

Milwaukee Alderman Bob Donovan issued this statement:

Congresswoman Gwen Moore issued this statement:

Milwaukee County Supervisor David Bowen issued this statement:

Voces de la Frontera issued the following statement:

State Sen. Harris Dodd issued the following statement:

State Sen. Lena Taylor issued this statement: