ALLEGAN COUNTY, MI - After her son allegedly killed her husband, Christine Hill asked why - then said, "Are you going to kill me, too?"

Tyler Smith told her no.

Smith, 27, hands in the air, surrendered when state police showed up to his mother's house Wednesday, May 24, on Blue Star Highway in Glenn.

He offered no explanation for allegedly killing Robert "Mark" Hill, 58, who had been married to his mother for 19 years. He demanded an attorney upon his arrest, according to a recording obtained by MLive and The Grand Rapids Press of state police seeking an arrest warrant.

The victim's family had no idea why Smith would target his stepfather, the owner of an antique store and described as a kind man.

"I want to know why. What exactly happened?" Hill's daughter, Jamie Vieau of Hudsonville, said outside of Allegan County District Court.

Christine Hill told police that she and her husband woke around 7 a.m. Wednesday. Through her second-floor bedroom window, she saw her son standing in the driveway, next to his truck, staring out as if he was thinking.

She told her son to come inside.

She was walking down the stairs when he walked past. A moment later, she heard her husband ask, "What are you doing?" She heard a single gunshot.

She ran to her husband. He had been shot in the chest and gasped for air. She couldn't find a phone. Her son met her downstairs.

She asked him, "Why did you do that?"

Then, she asked: "Are you going to kill me, too?" He told her no, police said.

The mother and son walked out of the house when police arrived. The son held his hands up and was handcuffed.

Police found the victim with a towel over his bloody T-shirt. He was not breathing and had no pulse. He died at the scene.

A 40-caliber handgun, its magazine removed, was on the dresser.