ANDERSON COUNTY — The two men accused in the shooting of a Pelzer convenience store clerk are no strangers to weapons.

In 2006, Charles Graham, 23, of Liberty was on probation when he allegedly fired multiple gunshots at a neighbor in a dispute near Liberty, according to one of two victims.

For two years, Van Ingle, who now lives in Westminster, has worried about the danger from the man who reportedly pointed a weapon at him and fired. Ingle said Graham was never tried for the offense.

According to records at the Anderson County Clerk of Court’s Office, prosecutors declined to pursue a warrant for assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature. A spokeswoman said the warrant, which is only stored for three years, has been destroyed. According to an incident report from the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office, Graham was arrested in November 2005 after he was accused of stabbing his brother with a broken knife blade. A report detailing the incident described by Ingle could not be found.

“The judge turned him loose,” Ingle said. “He said the jails are full, and they could not find the gun.”

Around 12:05 a.m. Tuesday, Graham and Travis Bennefield, 27, of Piedmont were arrested at S.C. 8 and Interstate 85. Both men were charged with armed robbery and conspiracy after Anderson County Sheriff’s deputies were alerted to a shooting and robbery at a nearby Shell convenience station. The clerk, 21, is recovering at the Greenville Hospital System with a gunshot wound to his chest.

In July 2004, Graham received five years probation after guilty pleas to petty larceny and second-degree burglary.

Bennefield was sentenced to nine years in prison in February 1999 after multiple felony convictions, including two counts of first-degree burglary, seven counts of grand larceny, second-degree burglary, three counts of petty larceny and death threats conveyed by telephone.

Officials with the South Carolina Department of Corrections could not immediately be reached to determine when Bennefield was released from prison. It is not immediately known if Bennefield would face federal charges for committing a crime with a firearm as a convicted felon.

According to records at the Anderson County Detention Center, Bennefield remained in custody as of Friday afternoon in lieu of a $75,000 property bond in connection with Tuesday’s armed robbery, conspiracy, assault and battery with intent to kill and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.

Graham remained in custody as of Friday afternoon in lieu of a $35,000 property bond for charges of armed robbery and conspiracy. A hold has also been placed on Graham for a probation violation.

Moments after Tuesday’s robbery and shooting, Anderson County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Tim Grasty was on routine patrol when he detained two men running from the Shell station’s parking lot toward a vehicle parked alongside I-85.

Seconds later, a 911 dispatch alerted Grasty to the emergency inside the nearby Shell station.

An unidentified woman was using towels to control bleeding from the 21-year-old clerk at the Shell station. The man reportedly is in stable condition.

The clerk, who offered no resistance when confronted at gunpoint, was shot seconds after handing money to the robber, said Raj Patel, co-owner of the store.

Roughly an hour before arresting the two armed robbery suspects, Grasty was putting crime scene tape around another convenience store.

About 10:40 p.m. Monday in Piedmont, Grasty responded to an unrelated armed robbery at the Little General convenience store at 901 Anderson St., where a black man stole $950 and 14 blunt cigars, according to the incident report. No one was injured, the man has not been found and deputies cleared the scene about 11 p.m. Monday, according to the same report.

Grasty had returned to his patrol when he saw Bennefield and Graham. One was running toward I-85 and the other walking behind him, according to the incident report.

At gunpoint, Grasty confronted the masked, running man, identified as Bennefield.

According to the report, Bennefield threw an “object” over the guardrail.

Deputies have not confirmed if the “object” is the gun used in the shooting.