Sheriff’s investigators say Rohit Rohit had tracked and harassed Shalini Thakur for months before the Sept. 8 shooting.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A 38-year-old Sacramento woman was fatally shot outside a Panera Bread on Sept. 8 by a man authorities say had stalked and harassed her for months, despite a civil harassment restraining order that was still in effect.
Shalini Thakur was killed at an Arden-Arcade shopping center after 22-year-old Rohit Rohit approached her near her parked vehicle, according to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office. Investigators said Thakur tried to run from him before she was shot. Rohit fled the shopping center and was located minutes later on Highway 50, where deputies found him dead from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The Sheriff’s Office said detectives are still investigating the events immediately before the shooting.
Deputies responded near the Panera on Howe Avenue just before 3 p.m. after several witnesses reported gunfire. Thakur was found at the scene and pronounced dead. Witnesses provided investigators with a description of Rohit’s vehicle, which deputies entered into a license plate reader system. Authorities said Regional Transit deputies located the vehicle near Highway 50 and Howe Avenue shortly afterward. When deputies attempted a traffic stop, the vehicle stopped on the freeway. After efforts to get the driver to come out, deputies found Rohit dead inside.
The fatal encounter followed months of reported harassment. Sheriff’s investigators said Thakur discovered an Apple AirTag under the hood of her vehicle in January. Authorities also said Rohit had let air out of one of her tires and then followed her to work so he could offer assistance. In another incident described by investigators, Rohit obtained a copy of Thakur’s apartment key and entered her home while she was sleeping. He later claimed he had gone inside because she was not responding to him.
Court records obtained by CBS News Sacramento indicate the reported behavior began even earlier. In her request for a civil harassment restraining order, Thakur wrote that the stalking began around September 2025 and had “progressively escalated in frequency and severity.” She alleged that Rohit had tampered with her vehicle while trying to pressure her into marriage or prevent her from socializing with other people. She also told the court that he had threatened gun violence involving himself or other people if she refused to marry him.
Thakur initially declined to pursue criminal charges or seek a restraining order, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Deputies and detectives said they remained concerned and continued communicating with her over the following months. Authorities said deputies again encouraged her in May to seek court protection. She eventually obtained a civil harassment restraining order in late May that CBS News Sacramento reported was scheduled to remain in effect through May 2027.
Authorities documented another incident on July 29, when Thakur reported that Rohit had violated the restraining order by leaving grocery items outside her home. The Sheriff’s Office later confirmed to CBS News Sacramento that deputies had probable cause to arrest him over the reported violation. A department spokesman said investigators tried to find Rohit on multiple occasions but were unable to locate him. The order remained active when Thakur was killed weeks later.
Thakur’s connection to Rohit also differed slightly from the way some early accounts characterized it. In her court filing, Thakur said she knew him through his DoorDash work because he would pick up orders from the restaurant where she worked. CBS News Sacramento confirmed that Thakur worked at an IHOP in the Arden area. That account indicates Rohit encountered her while collecting delivery orders from her workplace, rather than establishing that he first met her by delivering food directly to her.
Thakur’s mother, Sudesh Kumari, told local reporters she believed more should have been done to protect her daughter. Kumari had traveled from India to spend several months with Thakur, her only child. Friends and family gathered in Sacramento for Thakur’s funeral on Sept. 14. Friends remembered her as an outgoing and caring woman, while several people close to her questioned how the months of documented reports and the restraining order failed to prevent further contact.
The Sheriff’s Office said the investigation remains open as detectives work to establish the circumstances immediately before Thakur was confronted at the shopping center. Because Rohit also died, the case will not proceed as a conventional criminal prosecution against him. Investigators have continued seeking information from anyone who may have knowledge of the events leading to the Sept. 8 shooting.
Author note: Last updated September 16, 2026.