No criminal charges will be laid against an RCMP officer involved in the shooting death of a young mill worker in northern B.C. last fall, says the provincial Crown counsel's office.

Ian Bush, 22, was arrested for having an open beer and giving a false name to the officer outside a hockey game in Houston 300 kilometres west of Prince George in October 2005.

Ian Bush, 22, was shot and killed by an RCMP officer in the northern B.C. community of Houston in October 2005.
Ian Bush, 22, was shot and killed by an RCMP officer in the northern B.C. community of Houston in October 2005.
(CBC)
The RCMP has said the young man was shot after he attacked the Mountie outside the Houston detachment office.

Bush's family members have said they were told by the coroner that he died from a gunshot wound to the back of the head.

The only witness is the officer who arrested him.
 
A statement released on Tuesday by B.C.'s Criminal Justice Branch says the evidence suggests the officer acted in self-defence.

Bush's older sister, Renee Bush, says she's "obviously devastated because he was my brother and I knew him, and I knew him to not be a violent person like this. This isn't just like, 'Oh he snapped,' or whatever. He wasn't that kind of a guy.

"And so it hurts me a lot to think that this man was able to take his life, and kind of in a way it feels like they're saying, 'He didn't do anything wrong.' But I know that it's not over, and we can still say that he did something wrong. It's just in a different way."

The Bush family is planning to proceed with a lawsuit  over the shooting.

A coroner's inquest will also be held because Bush died in police custody.