The family of Jean Charles de Menezes abandoned all legal action last night after prosecutors refused to bring charges over his death.
Mr de Menezes was shot dead by two police marksmen after boarding a train at Stockwell Tube Station, in London, on July 22nd, 2005, after he was mistaken for suicide bomber Hussain Osman.
His family said almost four years of relentless campaigning had brought them little closer to holding any individual to account for the innocent Brazilian’s death.
Director of public prosecutions Keir Starmer QC approved a decision not to prosecute any police officers over the shooting.
Mr de Menezes’s cousin, Vivian Figuierdo, said the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) move was “deeply upsetting”.
She said the family would now turn their energy to lobbying parliament on the laws surrounding police accountability.
Ms Figuierdo said: “We are all in shock and simply cannot understand how the deliberate killing of an innocent man and an attempt by the Metropolitan police to cover it up does not result in a criminal offence.”
Prosecutors conducted an extensive review of the evidence presented at the three-month inquest into his death last year.
But they found insufficient evidence to pursue the officers who pulled the trigger or those who oversaw the operation for manslaughter or gross negligence.
An inquest jury returned an open verdict last December after hearing three months of evidence.
Coroner Sir Michael Wright was criticised in December for ruling out unlawful killing as a possible verdict. Officers were accused of a catalogue of failings on the day of Mr de Menezes’ death as jurors dismissed Scotland Yard’s claim the killing was lawful.
The jury did not accept accounts given by firearms officers Charlie 2 and Charlie 12 that they shouted “armed police” before opening fire. They concluded that six police failings caused or contributed to the innocent man’s death.
Stephen O’Doherty, reviewing lawyer, said there was no fresh evidence presented to the inquest to make him reconsider an earlier decision not to prosecute more senior officers for negligence.