The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled in a split decision that a U.S. Border Patrol agent can be sued after he shot and killed a Mexican teenager while standing on American soil.

According to the court’s decision Tuesday in Rodriguez v. Swartz, U.S. Border Patrol agent Lonnie Swartz shot and killed 16-year-old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez as Rodriguez was walking down a street in Nogales, Mexico, a city which runs parallel with the United States border.