Updated at 6 p.m. June 5: Revised to include the suspect's name.

A man was in custody Wednesday evening in the slaying of a 13-year-old boy who got caught in the crossfire of a shootout the night before near a Pleasant Grove gas station.

Datrail Deon Clayton (Dallas County Sheriff's Department)

Police say Datrail Deon Clayton, 21, faces a murder charge for his role in the shooting that occurred about 7:15 p.m. in the 9400 block of Bruton Road as people in two vehicles opened fire on each other. Police have not identified other suspects in the case.

The 13-year-old, Malik Tyler, was leaving a convenience store with two friends as a vehicle passing on Bruton, near St. Augustine Drive, opened fire on one parked at the store, Dallas Police Chief U. Renee Hall said. Malik was shot once in the chest and died at a local hospital.

The location has been a site of narcotics and gang activity, she said.

"We're very angry about the level of violence that we're seeing in our city," Hall said.

Dallas police mark evidence while investigating the scene of a shooting where a 13-year-old boy died after being caught in crossfire near a Pleasant Grove gas station in the 9400 block of Bruton Avenue in Dallas on June 4, 2019. (Vernon Bryant / Staff Photographer)

Malik would have started eighth grade in the fall at the Young Men's Leadership Academy at Fred F. Florence Middle School, a Dallas ISD spokeswoman said.

"He was in no way involved with any of the activity," Hall said. "He was just an innocent bystander."

A resident at a nearby apartment complex told KDFW-TV (Channel 4) that she and her daughter heard the gunshots, then saw Malik approach the apartments seeking help.

"He was just laying there already shot, just holding his chest," Eusula Jacobs said.

Malik lived at the complex, she added.

Hall pledged the police department would be aggressive in its search for suspects.

"We're saddened," Hall said. "We've lost a life over senseless violence."

Clayton has pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in Dallas County, according to court records.

Police say that in August 2016, he drove up to two young men in Pleasant Grove, about 3 miles north of where Malik was fatally shot, and asked whether they were affiliated with a gang.

When they denied belonging to a gang, Clayton shot one man in the leg and drove away with three accomplices, according to an arrest-warrant affidavit. He pleaded guilty in exchange for a two-year sentence.

In September 2015, a woman told police that when she asked a group of men to stop playing dice in front of the door of her Pleasant Grove apartment, Clayton pointed two handguns at her and threatened her, according to an arrest-warrant affidavit. He pleaded guilty in October 2017.

Staff writer Dana Branham contributed to this report.

CORRECTION, 5:40 p.m. June 5, 2019: The headline of an earlier version of this article incorrectly said the shooting occurred in South Dallas. Malik Tyler was shot in Pleasant Grove.