PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Nearly three months after a boxcutter was brought to Maryvale High School alongside Arizona state Rep. Lydia Hernandez, the school district is apologizing to the lawmaker’s daughter and seeking help identifying the person who accompanied her that day.
The Phoenix Union High School District released new surveillance video from Aug. 25 that shows the moments when two women entered the campus near 59th Avenue and Osborn Road, just days after a deadly stabbing at the campus.
Phoenix Union High School District shared security footage of the boxcutter incident that happened on Aug. 25, 2025. (No audio)
The video shows an unidentified woman accompanying Lydia Hernandez onto campus. Witnesses said the woman appeared to be Cassandra Hernandez, Lydia’s daughter. However, while the district initially identified her as Cassandra, it now says it cannot confirm her identity. PXU did note, however, that person was the one carrying the boxcutter.
“We would like to apologize to Ms. Cassandra Hernandez for including her name in the original statement. We are asking the community to help us identify the person accompanying Ms. Lydia Hernandez onto campus that morning,” the district said in a written statement on Tuesday.
PXU notes that the initial statement stated that Lydia filmed the situation at the school, a claim she has since publicly denied.
In a statement days after the reported incident, Cassandra, also a member of the Cartwright Governing Board, called for an apology and retraction from PXU.
“I was working an eight-hour shift Aug. 25 at EOS Fitness at the time of this alleged incident and have the time cards and video footage from my employer to prove it,” Cassandra said in an Aug. 29 statement obtained by Arizona’s Family.
Specifically, the police report notes that a woman was seen giving her phone to another, who was captured “holding the phone sideways video recording the female in blue jeans with a fanny pack,” PXU said. “The other female wearing a white shirt and pants is seen going through the metal detector holding the phone sideways recording on her phone.”
As a result of that encounter, the advanced weapon detection system was set off multiple times while that unknown woman was reportedly recording interactions with school staff, district officials explained.
Phoenix Union officials added that they would have welcomed families and community members who wanted to learn more about school safety efforts and experience how the weapon detection system works.
“It is extremely disappointing that they chose to do this with seemingly no outcome beyond capturing a safety failure on camera,” PXU said in this week’s statement. Officials added that the actions were “inappropriate and inexcusable.”
Because of the situation, the school district has issued a formal trespass letter to Lydia Hernandez, stating that she may no longer enter any PXU campus without written permission from the district. Otherwise, the district will contact the police and recommend charges against her.
The letter concludes that the district’s only unresolved matter is identifying the woman who carried the boxcutter, citing Lydia’s lack of cooperation.
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