Lawyer Loses a Hand in Bomb Blast

A family law attorney was seriously injured Monday when a gift-wrapped package left outside his office exploded, authorities said.

Witnesses told KSBW-TV in Salinas that they heard an explosion, and then saw attorney Jack Jacobson run from his office. One of the lawyer’s hands was blown off, a witness said. Officials said he also suffered facial cuts and chest injuries.

No one else was injured.

The bomb apparently was inside a package that was propped up outside Jacobson’s office and wrapped “in some form of holiday gift wrap,” said FBI spokesman George Grotz.

“He . . . picked it up, went into his office, and it exploded,” Grotz said.

A motive was not known, and there were no reported suspects.

Jacobson was airlifted to Stanford University Medical Center.

Jacobson has an office in a building that houses several other businesses, including a restaurant on the ground floor. Bomb squad technicians sealed off the immediate area to check for additional explosives.

Santa Cruz police did not immediately comment on the bombing.

Jacobson is a native of Poland who earned his law degree from the University of San Diego, according to state bar association records. He was admitted to the bar in 1972.

Several people who work in nearby offices said Jacobson primarily practiced family and divorce law.