MONTREAL - Tension is running high in a Montreal suburb after a police officer was cleared of criminal charges in a shooting last summer that left a local teenager dead and prompted riots.

Quebec's office of public prosecutions said a Montreal police officer acted with justified force when he drew his gun during a brawl last August and shot Fredy Villanueva, and two other youths, at close range.

The Quebec Justice Department praised the provincial police investigation and also ordered an independent public inquiry into the incident.

Villanueva's cousin, who witnessed the shooting, said Tuesday that it's "bad news" the officer will not face charges.

"I can't believe it. It's tough. It's really bad," said Anthony Clavasquin, who was playing a dice game with Villanueva in a Montreal-North park minutes before police opened fire.

"There are no words for it, I'm just disappointed."

Montreal police have said officers were attempting to arrest Villanueva's brother when they were surrounded by a group of youths.

A prosecutor, who examined the report filed by provincial police, said the officer who shot Villanueva acted to save himself and his partner when they were set upon by some of the youths.

Officers Stephanie Pilotte and Jean-Loup Lapointe had originally approached the group because they had spotted them playing dice in a public place in violation of a municipal bylaw.

The investigation concluded that Danny Villanueva, the brother of the dead teen, initially refused to identify himself and resisted violently when police tried to arrest him.

Four witnesses said Danny Villanueva reacted aggressively to police.

Police said members of the group kicked the female police officer as the officers tried to subdue Danny.

Lapointe felt hands grabbing him around his body and close to his gun and pepper spray. He fired four times, hitting Fredy Villanueva twice and wounding two other members of the group.

Clavasquin, 20, disagrees with the investigation's conclusion.

"It happened right in front of me," he said of the incident.

"When I heard that, I was like, where's the proof?" he added, referring to the inquiry's conclusions.

A friend of Villanueva's who saw the shooting said the prosecutors didn't take into account the other side of the story.

"It's bullshit," said the man in his 20s who would only identify himself as K.C. "They're there to kill us, not to serve.

"(The prosecutors) didn't do their job. There's no justice."

Villanueva's family met with provincial police on Tuesday but did not talk to reporters.

The 18-year-old's death sparked widespread violence and looting in a neighbourhood of suburban Montreal-North.

A police officer was shot in the leg during the rampage.

Relations between police and youth in the rough-and-tumble neighbourhood have long been frayed, said a man who has lived in Montreal-North for 35 years.

"This is a very bad decision," said Maurice, who did want to give his family name.

On Tuesday, there was a heavy police presence in the area as dozens of cruisers patrolled the streets and officers on horseback guarded the local fire station, which was vandalized during the riots.

Maurice fears the low-income community could erupt into violence once again.

"It could happen at any moment," he said. "I think it could even happen before 5 p.m. We are very worried."

Quebec Premier Jean Charest, seeking to defuse a delicate situation, called a public inquiry but it's unclear whether the move could bear tangible results.

"We need to know the facts in the case of Montreal-North," Charest said Tuesday.

"I think that we, like all Quebecers, particularly those who have been touched by the events, need to know what happened, why the life of a young man was lost and under what circumstances.

"And it's in the interests of everyone to get to the bottom of things."