WESTERLO — The Albany County Sheriff’s Office arrested 30-year-old Dylan Lafave in Westerlo the night of May 9, after his sister called them to say he had beaten her with a ghost gun and threatened to shoot her in the head in front of her 18-month old daughter.

Sheriff Craig Apple wrote in a Facebook post that the call came in while the situation was ongoing, and that the emergency response team was able to take Lafave into custody without incident at a home along County Route 403. Lafave had also threatened to shoot the responding officers, Apple said.

Lafave had allegedly used a ghost gun during the episode, which officers found, loaded, during a search of the residence. Ghost guns, known officially as privately manufactured firearms, are guns that are assembled from parts by their owners and not serialized like traditionally manufactured ones. 

According to Everytown for Gun Safety, New York requires all firearm components to have a serial number and buyers must complete a background check for them, as does the federal government, as of 2021. 

Lafave was charged with four felonies — second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, second-degree assault, first-degree reckless endangerment, and first-degree menacing — and also with a misdemeanor: endangering the welfare of a child, according to a press release. 

Lafave has previously been charged with falsely reporting a fire following an incident in March 2022 where he, calling from an Albany address, had reported to Bethlehem police that a building in that town was on fire, which turned out not to be true. He was charged with second-degree reporting a fire, explosion, or hazardous substance to an official, a felony, and with criminal impersonation, a misdemeanor.