MEXICO CITY – The Mexican government on Wednesday condemned the death of one of its citizens in “a violent border incident” in Tijuana involving U.S. Border Patrol agents.

The body of the victim, a man, was found Tuesday night next to the metal mesh fence that divides Mexico and the United States after a telephone tip. The man had been shot once in the head, according to authorities.

The Mexican foreign ministry said in a communique that it had asked the Border Patrol for “a detailed explanation of the facts and an exhaustive investigation” of the incident.

It appears the man was killed when one or more Border Patrol agents responded with gunfire after rocks were hurled at them from the Mexican side, the ministry said.

Last December, the two countries signed a joint declaration on preventing violence in the border region.

“The use of firearms to repel attacks with stones ... represents a disproportionate use of force,” Mexico’s foreign ministry said.

The ministry is in the process of identifying the victim and providing assistance to his relatives.

Sources at the Baja California state prosecutor’s office in Tijuana told Efe that the Mexican Attorney General’s Office will take charge of the investigation of the incident.

In recent years there have been several incidents of this kind that have resulted in the killing of Mexicans by Border Patrol agents.

In one of those cases, a Mexican on the verge of being deported died from wounds he received in a violent beating by U.S. agents. EFE