PICKENS – The Pickens County Sheriff’s Office arrested a Pickens man on Monday in connection with a brutal attack on a local convenience store clerk.

Benny Ray Morris

According to PCSO Chef Deputy Creed Hash, Benny Ray Morris, 40, of Pickens, was arrested without incident and is currently being detained within the Pickens County Detention Facility with bond being denied. Arrest warrants states that Morris is charged with assault and battery 1st degree and kidnapping.

In a statement the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office say they responded to the “Country Corner” convenience store located on SC 183 at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, regarding an assault to the female attendant.

Deputies arrived on the scene to find a female employee that had been brutally beaten about the face and head with the fists of a man described to be an occasional customer.

The victim was almost beaten unconscious and suffered numerous injuries to the face requiring that she be treated at a local hospital where she is undergoing several.

Deputies immediately followed several leads and the suspect was later found hiding in the crawl space underneath his mother’s residence located on Praters Creek Rd at approximately 1 p.m. on Monday.