KERSHAW COUNTY, SC — An Elgin town councilman Wednesday was charged with vandalizing a gun range, Kershaw County Sheriff Jim Matthews said.

Norman Allen “Bubba” Ernst, 41, is charged with malicious injury to personal property. Ernst is accused of vandalizing a gun range Sunday on his property in Kershaw County while having a dispute over a lease agreement with the range’s operator, Matthews said. He’s being held at the Kershaw County Detention Center, awaiting a bond hearing.

The dispute between Ernst and his tenant began in December, Matthews said. Ernst asked the operator to shut down the gun range because he said the noise from gunfire was interfering with his business next door, Elgin Quick Lube. The gun range operator, however, refused.

Kershaw County deputies served the gun range operator with eviction notices, Matthews said. Around the same time, five acts of vandalism occurred at the range.

Investigators said Ernst has previous arrests dating back to 2001,.