John Allen Cain Jr., a 38-year-old man from Grand Rapids, Michigan, died on November 1, 2021. He was a father to an eight-year-old daughter and was known in his community as a caring individual who enjoyed mentoring youth and coaching football. His family described him as someone who loved protecting people, a quality that was evident in his work as a security guard, a job he held off and on for several years at the Grand Rapids Inn in Wyoming, a suburb of Grand Rapids.
On the night of
his death, Cain was working his shift at the motel. Shortly after midnight, he was called to address a noise complaint and confronted a guest who was behaving in an unruly manner. The guest, identified as 21-year-old Jacob Grygorzyk, was staying at the inn. Following the confrontation, Grygorzyk, who was armed with a handgun, shot the unarmed security guard at close range on the second-floor balcony of the motel.
After shooting Cain, Grygorzyk fled the scene. A short time later, police received a call from a nearby residence. It was Grygorzyk's mother, who had discovered her son deceased from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Investigators were able to connect the two incidents through hotel records, concluding that it was a murder-suicide. Police confirmed that Cain and Grygorzyk did not know each other prior to the deadly encounter. The incident gained further notoriety as it was reported that Grygorzyk had set up his phone to record the shooting and posted a video to Snapchat. As the sole suspect in the shooting of John Cain Jr. is deceased, no arrests were made in connection with his death.
