Henry W. Bartle

Henry W. Bartle

(Rome Police Department)

Nathaniel Hitt

UTICA, N.Y. -- A Rome man accused of fatally shooting his girlfriend's baby last year has been charged with manslaughter, according to a report.

Henry W. Bartle was arraigned Monday in Oneida County Court on an indictment charging him with second-degree manslaughter for the death of Nathaniel Hitt, a 7-month-old boy, reported The Observer-Dispatch.

Bartle, 18, was originally charged with criminally negligent homicide after police accused him of killing Nathaniel -- a boy Bartle called his son.

The shooting happened Nov. 28, 2015 inside the 519 W. Dominick St. apartment Bartle shared with Nathaniel and Selena M. Hitt, Nathaniel's mother.

Bartle, Hitt and Ryan C. Ziobro, a friend the couple was spending time with during the fatal incident, gave police the following account of the shooting:

Bartle, Hitt and Ziobro had finished smoking marijuana inside the apartment's living room when Bartle decided to clean his Mossberg 500 12-gauge shotgun. Nathaniel was playing in his walker while Bartle cleaned the shotgun and installed a new pistol grip.

With the grip installed, Bartle leaned forward to put the weapon on a stool. That's when the gun fired -- shooting and killing Nathaniel.

Bartle, Hitt and Ziobro ran from the apartment and asked a neighbor to call for help. Before police arrived, Bartle returned to the apartment to hide his marijuana.

"Now that I think about it, I can't believe that I was even thinking about the marijuana," Bartle later told police. "What the f*** was I thinking after I just killed my son."

An Oneida County grand jury indicted Bartle last week for second-degree manslaughter, a felony, and endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor, said The Observer-Dispatch. Bartle pleaded not guilty on Monday to both charges, reported The Observer-Dispatch.

Bartle is being held in the Oneida County Jail on $50,000 bail.