PEACH COUNTY, Ga. (WGXA) -- The Georgia Supreme Court has upheld the murder conviction for a man found guilty in the shooting death of an 8-year-old Fort Valley boy.

Jai'Mel Anderson was playing video games while his stepfather was taking care of him at Oaks Apartments in Fort Valley in January 2015 when more than a dozen rounds of gunfire suddenly came through their unit.

Anderson was struck twice and died in the shooting.

Three defendants -- 25-year-old Dennis Eason, 21-year-old Kristian Wipfel, and 22-year-old Tevin Sams -- were later found guilty of second-degree murder in a November 2016 trial.

Tevin Sams challenged his case to the state's Supreme Court, but the Justices have upheld his conviction.

Prosecutors showed during the trial that Anderson's stepfather, Dejad Williams, knew one of the shooters, specifically Eason. The two reconnected in November 2014 and then had a falling out over a drug deal -- which culminated in the fatal shooting.

Anderson was in the third grade Westside Elementary School in Warner Robins when he was fatally shot.

Two other co-defendants, Antonio Garvin and Jeremy Quillan Jackson, pleaded guilty to their roles in connection to Anderson's death.