BOSTON (CBS) – A 13-year-old shot in the stomach Friday evening was on his way to church for choir practice, parishioners said Saturday.

Church elders at the 7th Day Adventist Church on Seaver Street say Gabriel Clarke, a junior deacon there, underwent surgery overnight at Boston Medical Center.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030′s Kim Tunnicliffe reports

Friday night, the teen was listed in critical condition. On Saturday, the boy’s mother told church elders that he had come through surgery and was improving.

J.D. Chery, the church’s treasurer, said he is relieved Clarke is improving, but that the community has to have a serious conversation about gun violence.

“The fact that kids have guns, especially in Boston – young black kids are killing each other and that’s sad,” Chery said.

According to the boy’s mother, he was walking on Humboldt Ave. when a car pulled up alongside of him and gunfire rang out.

“He was on his way to church for a better life. It’s troublesome,” a church elder told WBZ NewsRadio 1030’s Kim Tunnicliffe.

That church elder said he does not believe the victim was tired.

“From what I understand, it could have been mistaken identity,” he said.