The Crown has decided not to press charges against the RCMP officer who shot and killed a robbery suspect in Vanderhoof in December 2004.
The RCMP said the officer was chasing 29-year-old Kevin St. Arnaud after a robbery at a pharmacy, when the fleeing man stopped and turned on him.
The RCMP said the officer felt threatened, and when the suspect refused to stop, the Mountie shot him. However, St. Arnaud was not armed.
The officer, who had been with the RCMP for two years, remained on active duty.
The Vanderhoof shooting is one of four police deaths the B.C. Civil Liberties Association wants investigated. All four involved people who died while being pursued by the RCMP or were in RCMP custody.
The coroner has announced an inquest will be held in the St. Arnaud shooting, but no date has yet been set.
- FROM FEB. 16, 2006: Revelation about police shooting raises questions
There's still no word on possible charges in the death of another northern B.C. man in RCMP custody. Ian Bush, 22, was shot and killed while in RCMP custody in the mill town of Houston last fall.
