Car bomb injures man and two sons in Michigan

A man and his two sons are in serious condition after a car bomb turned their vehicle into a "blackened hunk of metal," according to the Associated Press. The incident occurred Tuesday night on a street in Monroe, Michigan, about 35 miles southwest of Detroit.

"There was a lot of power behind it. The victims are very fortunate, very blessed, to be alive," Donald Dawkins, a spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, told the AP.

Dawkins told Reuters that the ATF has not yet determined what kind of device caused the explosion. Investigators are going over the remains of the car "to make sure we extract every piece of evidence that we may be able to, what type of device, how it was detonated." It has yet to be determined if the victims were targeted or if the attack was random.

Dawkins called the incident a "heinous crime" and added that "when you have children involved, it really hits home."

While officials have publicly declined to disclose the names of the victims, an anonymous law enforcement official told the AP that the injured man is Erik Chappell, 42, an attorney from LaSalle Township.

From the AP:

[Chappell] works for a Sylvania, Ohio-based law firm that bears his name and has an office in Monroe. The firm declined to comment.

The firm's website says Chappell mostly handles business litigation in Ohio, Michigan and federal courts but also works in family law, such as divorce, and real estate.

Michael Davison, 61, who lives a few doors away from the Chappell home, said the family hosts a popular 4th of July party.

All three victms are at St. Vincent Medical Center in Toledo, Ohio.