Black gay activists in Chicago claim two seemingly unrelated deaths have an unspoken connection:

Leaders of Chicago Black Lesbian and Gay Organizations announced a community alert Thursday morning after two recent homicides in which they believe black gay men were targeted.
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The community organizations called the alert in response to the deaths of Larry Bland, on Nov. 17, and Donald Young, on Dec. 23, according to a news release.

Bland's mother believes that a potential lover shot him to death last November.

Young, a choir director and deacon, seems to have been murdered in an apparent pre-Christmas robbery.

Chicago-based Larry Bland died violently two weeks ago and his mother suspects his one his chat room mates may have murdered him. This isn't the first time online sex has been brought up in a gay man's murder.

Michael Sandy met his killers online, as have a number of other men who have come up on this site. Never in our eons of reporting gay murders, however, have we heard a story start with such panicked condemnation.

From local Fox reporter Darlene Hill:

Log in, type the address, and enter a world unknown to many: a world full of men seeking sex with men.

Josephine Bland says her son was so consumed by that activity, she moved out of her own home.

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