DETROIT -- A retired Detroit police officer was shot several times and his house firebombed early Wednesday morning.

Charlie Fagins, 63, is in stable condition at an area hospital after the attack.

According to police, Fagins was shot the moment he opened his front door. The attacked happened about 2 a.m. at his home in the 21000 block of Lyndon Road near Evergreen Road in Northwest Detroit.

Police said the attack does not appear to be random because the home was set on fire immediately after the shooting.

"It does baffle my mind. I have no idea why (it happened)," said Ernest Gulban, who owns a home near the victim. "I"m assuming that the way it happened that they left him there to die in the fire."

When emergency responders arrived, flames were shooting from Fagin's house and the victim was lying on the front lawn.

Fagin was shot twice in the arm and once in the lower back, police said.

"Someone came in and shot him -- cowardly shot him. My father was already disabled," said Fagins' son, Darrell Fagins. "Why go so far to have to shoot him?"

As of Wednesday night, police had not established a motive for the attack. However, Darrell Fagins wondered if it was done in retaliation because his father used to patrol that neighborhood when he was an active police officer.

According to Darrell Fagins, his dad has lived in the home for three years. "He would say what he had to say (to neighbors) and walk off the street," Darrell Fagins said. "He stayed to himself."

Charlie Fagins was able to tell police that his attacker was wearing a mask and dressed in all black.

The family is now urging people with information to come forward.

"We have to work together," said Darrell Fagins.

Darrell Fagins said he is confident police can catch his father's attacker if people aren't afraid to speak up. "Everybody sees something. If you work together and see who is doing what, and say something about it. It (the attack) didn't magically happen."