Al Sharpton’s National Action Network opening Lancaster office Tuesday, will address recent shootings

The newly formed Lancaster chapter of the National Action Network civil rights group will hold its first news conference Tuesday about a recent spate of violence and killings. Attending the news conference will be the mother of two brothers gunned down last week in south Charlotte.

Laverne McGriff, mother of brothers Naquavis Benson, 29, and Jarvis Mandrell Benson, 28, is expected to talk about the unsolved killings of both men and and their friend Javarius McGee at a home on China Grove Church Road in south Charlotte, near the state line Friday. The Benson brothers were Lancaster natives.

Police in both Charlotte and Lancaster are checking to see if the killings are related to the Nov. 28 unsolved killing of Carlos Antonio Massey in Lancaster. Massey was a friend of the victims in Friday’s triple homicide that remains unsolved.

Investigators from the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office are working with Charlotte authorities to see if there is any connection, said Doug Barfield, spokesman for the sheriff’s office.

Tuesday’s news conference is at 2 p.m. at Open Door Fellowship Church, 1941 W. Meeting St., Lancaster, said Kim Cunningham, president of the new Lancaster chapter of National Action Network. Leaders will talk about the creation of the local chapter and the troubling violence in Lancaster County. The organization was created in 1991 by the Rev. Al Sharpton and has been active in recent years in Charlotte and York County.

Another man was murdered Nov. 25 before the Massey killing, but Barfield said that case does not appear related. In another case police say is unrelated, a Lancaster man, 40, was killed Saturday night. Arrests have been made in both those shootings.

This story was originally published December 7, 2015 at 3:54 PM with the headline "Al Sharpton’s National Action Network opening Lancaster office Tuesday, will address recent shootings."