A tourist visiting Cathedral Rock southwest of Sedona city limits captured video of a group of four young men vandalizing the red rocks at 10 a.m. Tuesday, May 20.
The tourist had just hiked to first bench and was out breath. The tourist who captured the vandalism in progress contacted the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office and the Red Rock Ranger Station.
There are three clips, one vertical and two horizontal but initially shot vertically that we rotated and have edited together.
“Four men, maybe college age, not sure. They were pretty loud about it and laughing and joking the whole time. They were not trying to hide what they were doing at all. Pretty sure they saw me filming and kept scratching up the rock,” the witness stated.
One of the suspects was wearing a black hat the read “TCU” in the same font and style as the Texas Christian University logo. As stated on our social media page, this does not indicate the man is a student of or graduate from TCU, but may help other witnesses identify the man and his fellow suspects.
If you have information about any or all of these suspects, call the sheriff’s office at (928) 771-3260 or Silent Witness at (800) 932-3232 www.yavapaisw.com.
Federal Offense
Vandalism of rockface in the National Forest in a federal offence under Code of Federal Regulations Title 36 §261.2 and §261.9. Under federal law, 36 CFR §261.9(a) reads: “The following are prohibited … Damaging any natural feature or other property of the United States.” 36 CFR §261.2: “Damaging means to injure, mutilate, deface, destroy, cut, chop, girdle, dig, excavate, kill or in any way harm or disturb.” The severity of the crime ranges from a Class B Misdemeanor, which is six months in jail and a $5,000 fine, to a felony, which is one year in jail and/or $20,000 fine.
If you witness vandals carving or defacing rocks in the Sedona, contact the Red Rock Ranger District at (928) 203-7500 or (928) 203-2900 or the USFS Region 3 Law Enforcement Division at (505) 842-3196. Note the date, time and exact location of the incident, as well as a good description of the person or persons involved, such as height, weight, age, gender, clothing description and other information.
Witness Statement
After the video posted to our Facebook went viral and accumulated more than 371,000 views, 4,600 reactions an 1,200 comments by Wednesday, May 21, the witness provided the Sedona Red Rock News with a narrative about the incident:
“Hi everyone,
“I filmed the video and took the pictures of the vandalism at Cathedral Rock on 5/20/2025. I see it’s going viral and I want to explain more about what happened and answer some questions. I also want to thank everyone for their help.
“I am from out of state and have never been to Sedona before. It was my first time climbing up Cathedral Rock.
“I climbed up way too fast and got overheated. I’m pretty active but I don’t have experience with that kind of hiking. I also never experienced what it was like to be out of breath. I ended up making it to the top but was disoriented. I had about a second to recover from the climb and was trying to catch my breath when I looked over and saw the vandalism taking place.
I could tell they had been vandalizing the spot way before I had gotten up there because they had already marked up a lot of the rock. The video shows the last part of the vandalism and the only part that I witnessed.
“I am a woman who was by herself and is much smaller in size than four guys yelling and vandalizing property in front of other visitors. I had a gut feeling that if I tried to police them myself things would’ve gone south. I think they would’ve tried to push me off the cliff, and I’m not saying that to be funny, I really think it could’ve gotten confrontational like that from the way they were acting. This situation could’ve ended up much worse. I think other visitors felt the same way and that’s why I didn’t see anyone else doing anything. Maybe someone tried to stop them earlier and it didn’t work.
“I went into a state of shock when I saw them writing on the rock. I watched many visitors look at the vandalism taking place and then look the other way. It was scary because no one was doing anything. There was already a ton of writing on the wall when I got up there and they weren’t stopping.
“I think everyone was trying to stay away from them to stay safe and avoid conflict, especially while on a cliff. The vibe was tense and visitors seemed uncomfortable with what was happening. I think the frat boy vandals had been putting on quite a show before I got up there.
“I immediately started filming and stared them down while they did it. I kept shaking my head whenever they looked at me.
“They continued their antics for about a minute more and then stopped. I guess they decided at that point it was time to leave. I honestly think my filming paired with the heavy breathing was enough to scare them off because they ended up leaving not long after I started.
“One of them (not the one with dark hair) took his phone out and appeared to briefly film me as they were leaving. They started going down the mountain and that’s when I tried to contact the correct law enforcement agency, which was not an easy process.
“I don’t know what county I’m in [Yavapai County] or who patrols this jurisdiction [Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office and Cococono National Forest Law Enforcement]. I wasn’t expecting something like this to happen. So I started searching on my phone for the right number to call to report the crimes. I think the first number to come up was the visitor center. The first person I spoke to seemed genuinely concerned and told me to call the Red Rock Ranger Station.
“I called the Red Rock Ranger Station. A man picked up. I told him what had just happened and that the culprits were starting their descent down the mountain. I told him to send help ASAP. I assumed they would have more than enough time to dispatch someone to catch the culprits when they got to the bottom. Or at least be able to transfer me to the correct help line to get a ranger or officer to show up.
“The man at the Red Rock station seemed annoyed that this was happening. He didn’t sound like he wanted to deal with it. He asked for my name and info. I didn’t want to give him info I just wanted to leave an anonymous tip. I pleaded with him to just send someone over and get the culprits before they got away. I kept having to argue with him because he wouldn’t do anything to help. He kept complaining that because I wouldn’t give him my info there was nothing he could do. WHAT?!?! Don’t they have caller ID anyway? Isn’t that enough? I just wanted them to send help because I am not trained to deal with situations like this, especially while on a mountain cliff. He wasted a ton of time. I had to hang up and try to call someone else.
“Somehow I got in touch with one of his coworkers on another number and she was nicer but still seemed somewhat reluctant to help. She was like, yeah I just talked to my coworker about this. She told me the same thing he did, that she really needed my name and number and they wouldn’t help me unless I gave it to them. I ended up giving her my info in hopes that it would get them to help. Despite me giving them my info, no one from law enforcement or a park ranger service showed up.
“I’m not sure why getting my info was so much more important than going after the culprits and getting THEIR info. It wasted so much time and if I knew that was going to happen I would’ve just followed the frat boys down the mountain. I could not have gone through the whole phone call saga while climbing down the mountain. I figured calling the police was the most efficient and safest thing to do.
“No one from law enforcement even showed up after I gave my info. I kept getting transferred around on the phone or having to hang up and dial another number, all while the culprits were getting away. Everyone I spoke to kept saying it wasn’t their jurisdiction and to call the next person who told me the same thing.
“I ended up going after them myself to see if I could catch up to them but by the time I got down to the bottom, they were gone.
“I was hoping to see a ranger or cop there but no one even showed up. I was about to leave and then I got a phone call from an officer. He did not identify which agency he was from. He just said he was an officer. I didn’t talk to him for long, it was a short conversation. He asked me to send the pictures and videos. No formal report was ever taken. No one has called to follow up or even get more details. I tried to call the same officer the next day. He didn’t pick up.
“I contacted Sedona Red Rock News and they were on it immediately. I am very thankful they stepped up to help.
“I’m sorry I could not get a better video. People were commenting that it looked like I was trying to film big foot. I couldn’t agree more. I did my best to film but I was dealing with multiple demands. If I could go back in time and try to take a better video I would.
“Thank you to everyone else who showed concern for this situation. Thank you to everyone who was worried about my breathing, it’s back to normal now, thank God.
“I pray for healing at Cathedral Rock.”
