Sacramento County authorities have acknowledged they were unable to track down a man accused of stalking a California woman for months before he allegedly killed her last week.
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said deputies had probable cause to arrest 22-year-old Rohit Rohit in July after he allegedly breached a restraining order.
But deputies were unable to find him, officials said. On September 8, Rohit allegedly shot and killed Shalini Thakur, 38, despite the protective order she had obtained against him.
Disturbing surveillance video captured the moments before the killing outside a Sacramento Panera Bread shortly before 3pm. Authorities said Rohit, a DoorDash driver from India who entered the United States illegally in August 2023, chased Thakur before allegedly opening fire.
Rohit then drove away from the scene, according to the sheriff’s office. He later died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after officers stopped his vehicle.
Thakur’s mother, Sudesh Kumari, is now mourning the death of her only daughter just two years after losing her husband.
Kumari broke down in tears during her daughter’s funeral in Sacramento on Monday as Thakur’s body was carried past in a wooden casket.
Tara Singh, a community representative with Guru Nanak Sat Sangat of California, a Sikh temple nonprofit that attended the service, said Kumari has been devastated by the loss and is struggling to process what happened.
Sudesh Kumari, pictured in white, is grieving the death of her only child, Shalini Thakur, after having lost her husband two years earlier.
Shalini Thakur, 38, was fatally shot in daylight in Sacramento. Authorities said the alleged gunman, a 22-year-old DoorDash worker, had stalked her for months after entering the US illegally in August 2023.
‘Today, Mom is saying, “Please let me go with her, and I can’t be living all my life alone,”‘ Singh told CBS News. ‘It’s a very sad moment.’
Indian-born Thakur was a beloved waitress at the IHOP in Arden-Arcade, and she touched so many people that several customers even turned up to her funeral.
Most of her family is home in India, so her mother and uncle were the only relatives able to attend the memorial service on Monday.
Thakur’s friend, Satinder Dulai, remembered her for her bright spirit.
‘She was a lady with a vibrant personality,’ Dulai told CBS. ‘Larger than life, with this glow about her, her aura.
‘She had a bubbly personality. She had a lot of goals. And I think one by one, she was completing them. She was a little feisty, but very loving.’
‘I want to honor her heart and her kindness,’ said Melinda Willey, a regular IHOP customer who formed a friendship with Thakur.
Many mourners also slammed the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office for failing to protect Thakur from Rohit despite him being on their radar for months.
The suspect, Rohit Rohit, an illegal migrant from India who was allegedly released by the Biden administration, fled in a vehicle before shooting himself dead in the car
Thakur’s funeral was held in Sacramento, California on Monday, attended by her mother
‘He was an illegal person in this country and she has a restraining order. I don’t know how the police department didn’t take any action,’ Singh said.
Thakur was remembered by her family as ‘caring, loving, selfless, and generous’
Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office Lieutenant Amar Gandhi said Thakur died just before 3pm on September 8, when Rohit approached her at the shopping mall where she worked on Howe Avenue and ‘began to accost her.’
‘As the victim attempted to run away, Rohit chased her down, pulled out a firearm, and shot her multiple times,’ he said. ‘The victim fell to the ground.’
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Gandhi added that Rohit then walked over to Thakur’s body as she lay dying on the sidewalk, and ‘shot her in the head at close range.’
Sheriff’s deputies arrived at the scene and tracked Rohit’s vehicle as he fled. They quickly located him and said he ‘immediately slammed on his brakes’.
‘Deputies attempted to call out the driver for some time, but ultimately discovered that he was deceased from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound,’ Lieutenant Gandhi said.
Thakur, 38, had been stalked by Rohit for months before she died, law enforcement said
Thakur has been remembered by her relatives as ‘a caring, loving, selfless, and generous young woman who gave so much of herself to others’
Thakur was gunned down outside the Panera Bread on Howe Avenue in Sacramento
Homicide detectives were aware that Rohit had been harassing and stalking Thakur after meeting her through his DoorDash pickups from her workplace.
The campaign of harassment dates back to at least January, when Thakur discovered an Apple AirTag he had planted under the hood of her car.
Gandhi said Rohit’s behavior became ‘increasingly alarming,’ and on one occasion, he deflated Thakur’s tires and followed her to work so that he could offer her assistance.
Rohit even obtained a copy of her apartment key and entered her home on Sierra Boulevard while she was sleeping.
He claimed the next day that he snuck into her home as a welfare check after she did not respond to his messages.
The series of troubling incidents prompted Thakur to obtain a restraining order against Rohit, which he breached in July by dropping off random grocery items at her front door.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has blamed Biden’s immigration policies for the tragedy, saying Rohit illegally entered the US via Arizona in 2023.
Rohit was arrested by US Border Patrol agents in August of that year, but was ‘released into the country by the Biden administration,’ according to the DHS.
Thakur was on the phone to her mother less than an hour before she died in Sacramento
Rohit was arrested by US Border Patrol agents in Arizona in August 2023, but was ‘released into the country by the Biden administration’, according to the DHS
Rohit managed to pass background checks through Checkr to gain work with DoorDash by providing a Social Security number, sources told the Daily Mail.
He had not made a delivery in more than six weeks and was not active on the platform on the day of the murder.
A DoorDash spokesman expressed condolences for Thakur’s family, and said the company is ‘fully cooperating’ with police as they investigate the case.
‘This is an unimaginable tragedy, and our hearts are with Ms. Thakur’s family and loved ones as they grieve this immense loss,’ the spokesperson said.
‘DoorDash has absolutely zero tolerance for violence or harassment of any kind, and we encourage anyone experiencing unwanted attention to report it directly in the DoorDash app, and to contact local law enforcement if they feel unsafe.
‘We are fully cooperating with the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office as they investigate.’