An illegal migrant captured and later released under the Biden Administration stalked a Sacramento woman for months before executing her in broad daylight Tuesday, weeks after violating a restraining order.
Rohit Rohit, 22, an Indian national in the country illegally, gunned down 38-year-old Shalini Thakur on Tuesday outside a Panera Bread in Sacramento before fleeing the scene.
Just seven minutes later, he shot himself in the head after a standoff with police about two miles away.
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Shalini Thakur, whose life was taken on Tuesday. Gofundme
Department of Homeland Security officials arrested Rohit in August 2023 as he crossed into the US at the Arizona border. But under the Biden administration‘s soft “order of recognizance” border laws, Rohit was released just a month later and DHS never heard from him again.
Then, in 2025, he began stalking and terrorizing Thakur, an IHOP waitress he met while making Door Dash pickups at her workplace.
Rohit Rohit was released from federal immigration authorities in 2023. Sacramento County Sheriffs Office
Rohit in ICE custody, soon after he was caught illegally crossing the border.
Rohit chased Thakur into a busy shopping center. Sacramento County Sheriffs Office
He killed her in front of terrified witnesses. Sacramento County Sheriffs Office
Katie Zacharia said Rohit’s story is typical “Biden ‘catch and release’” FOX NEWS
The Panera Bread where Thakur was killed. Google Maps
The showdown occured on Highway 50 about two miles from the scene of the crime. Google
Only quick police work stopped more carnage, the sheriff said. Sacramento County Sheriffs Office¿
Rohit’s behavior became increasingly disturbing throughout the year, according to the Sacramento sheriff’s office and court documents.
He threatened to kill her and himself on multiple occasions. He placed an Apple AirTag tracking device on her car to monitor her whereabouts, made a copy of her house key without permission, and showed up at her workplace daily. He once slashed her tires and then followed her, offering to change them when she pulled over.
Thakur left behind a devistated family. Instagram/abc10tv
Rohit killed himself after a highway standoff with cops. CBS NEWS
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Sheriff’s deputies said they’d been in contact with Shakur about the harassment for months before her death, imploring her to get the restraining order she finally filed in May. Then in July, he violated that order by visiting Shakur’s home.
California’s sanctuary state laws prohibit local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement efforts, something that could have led to Rohit being detained or deported after he was reported to police at least twice before he killed Thakur.
The horrific slaying has left her shattered family to blame the system.
“I am alone in this world,” Sudesh Kumari told reporters after her daughter’s death. “Restraining order after restraining order… police did not protect my daughter.”
“She loved them all. She loved everyone.”
Federal immigration authorities say he never should’ve been here at all.
“This tragedy would have been completely avoided if it weren’t for the Biden administration releasing this killer into our country,” a DHS spokesperson said. “Sanctuary politicians must put an end to reckless policies that play Russian roulette with American lives.”
Federal officials said it’s unclear how Rohit came to be in Mexico, or how he was caught attempting to cross into the US, but he was apprehended in an arid, remote area near Yuma and booked into custody at the ICE staging facility in Florence, Arizona, in August of 2023.
Rohit was held in Florence before being moved to the agency’s processing center in Folkston, Georgia, in a rural area near the Florida border that holds about 3,000 adult male non-citizens who are in immigration proceedings or awaiting deportation.
He was released in September 2023 for no apparent reason, in a tactic immigration officials refer to as “catch and release.”
He then made his way to California, where later he met, stalked and killed Thakur.
Former DHS spokeswoman Katie Zacharia said the agency made a mistake by releasing Rohit instead of returning him to his home country.
“It is very typical with the Biden ‘catch and release,’” Zacharia said, “These types of policies kill American citizens or put American citizens’ lives at risk in one way or another.”
“These are the types of individuals that ICE and the ERO should be removing and sending back to their home countries, and yet you get so much pushback from governors like Gavin Newsom,” she added.
After Rohit chased and gunned Thakur down in the shopping center Tuesday, he followed her as she stumbled into a parking lot. As she lay on the ground, he shot her again in the head at close range.
He then sped off, but a witness took a photo of his car and sent it to police, who spotted and stopped him seven minutes later on eastbound on Highway 50, about two miles away. Rohit engaged deputies in a standoff before shooting and killing himself in the vehicle.
Sacramento Sherriff Jim Cooper said only a quick response from law enforcement prevented Rohit from inflicting more carnage.
“I believe that individual was headed somewhere else to do someone else harm,” said Cooper.