Police: Car bomb may be behind Mich. blast; 3 hurt

[September 21, 2011]  MONROE, Mich. (AP) -- A blast that turned a vehicle along a Michigan street into a blackened shell and seriously injured a man and two children inside may have been the work of a car bomb, police said Wednesday.

Emergency responders rushed to the site of the Tuesday evening explosion near a highway underpass in Monroe, about 35 miles southwest of Detroit, the Monroe Police Department said in a statement. The vehicle's three occupants were taken to St. Vincent Medical Center in Toledo, Ohio, about 20 miles south of Monroe, and they were listed in critical condition.

It "is being investigated as the detonation of a car bomb," police said.

Television news footage showed that the vehicle had been turned into a charred shell. There didn't appear to be homes or businesses in the area along a tree-lined street where the car burned.

A man and two children were injured, Lt. Gary Werner said in an email. Police did not publicly identify the victims or say who owns the vehicle.

The investigation was in the "very early stages," police said in the statement, and additional information would be released by the department when it is available. A news conference was planned for later Wednesday, Werner said.

Monroe is a city of more than 20,000 that is one of Michigan's oldest communities. It has a historic downtown and is home to furniture maker La-Z-Boy Inc.

An FBI spokeswoman in Detroit on Wednesday referred questions to local police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. State police and ATF investigators were assisting in the investigation, Monroe police said.

State police referred questions to the local police department, and the ATF didn't immediately respond to a message seeking comment left early Wednesday morning.

[Associated Press]

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