Police arrest man for attempted armed robbery at sorority

This post was updated at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

University police arrested a 26-year-old man Tuesday afternoon in connection with an attempted robbery in Westwood and an armed burglary in a UCLA sorority house.

Roel Tzul, from Panorama City, Calif., allegedly entered the Alpha Phi sorority house near Le Conte Avenue just before 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, brandished a knife and attempted to rob a student inside, said UCPD spokeswoman Nancy Greenstein. Police originally and incorrectly reported that Tzul was a UCLA student.

Savannah Keener, a first-year English student and member of Alpha Phi, said she saw a man enter the front door of the sorority house while touching his pockets. She was sitting in the television room with four friends when the man looked into the room where they were.

“We were all just uncomfortable,” she said. “We looked at each other, then all walked through a doorway far away from him.”

Keener said the Alpha Phi house mom told the man to leave. He then spit on the floor and tossed some potted plants on the ground before he began to walk out, she said.

He pulled out a knife when the house mom followed him outside, Keener said. He then ran away.

Police originally thought that Tzul was hiding in the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, several houses away from Alpha Phi on Hilgard Avenue.

Several minutes later, Tzul allegedly stole another student’s cellphone near the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Westholme Avenue, Greenstein said.

UCPD found Tzul in Beverly HIlls, where he was taken into custody, Greenstein said.

Tzul is currently being held on $70,000 bail in the Los Angeles Inmate Reception Center. He is being held on charges of robbery, attempted robbery, and burglary with a weapon.

Tzul’s is set to appear in court on Thursday at 4 p.m. at the Los Angeles Superior Court airport courthouse.

Compiled by Yael Levin, Bruin senior staff. Contributing reports by Sam Hoff, Bruin reporter.