COLUMBIA, S.C. (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday he fully supported the U.S. Justice Department's decision not to charge a white police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black teenager last year.

"You can't just charge him anyway because what happened was tragic," Obama told a town hall-style meeting in South Carolina.

"That was the decision that was made, and I have complete confidence and stand fully behind the decision that was made by the Justice Department on that issue."

(Reporting by Julia Edwards; Writing by Jeff Mason and Roberta Rampton; Editing by Sandra Maler)