{"id":461859,"date":"2026-09-12T18:30:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T18:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/461859\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T18:30:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T18:30:18","slug":"deputies-had-probable-cause-to-arrest-migrant-before-sacramento-panera-killing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/461859\/","title":{"rendered":"Deputies had probable cause to arrest migrant before Sacramento Panera killing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sacramento deputies had probable cause to arrest the illegal migrant<\/a> who later murdered a California waitress<\/a> \u2014\u00a0but said they couldn\u2019t find him before the deadly ambush.<\/p>\n

Indian national Rohit Rohit, 22, executed 38-year-old Shalini Thakur on Tuesday outside a Panera Bread in Sacramento.<\/p>\n

The Sacramento County Sheriff\u2019s Office said deputies and detectives made at least two attempts to find Rohit after Thakur reported that he had violated a restraining order she obtained against him, but they came up empty.<\/p>\n

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Indian national Rohit Rohit, 22, executed 38-year-old Shalini Thakur on Tuesday outside a Panera Bread in Sacramento. Sacramento County Sheriff\u0092s Office<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we made contact with him, yeah, I am certain there would have been an arrest,\u201d Sacramento County Sheriff\u2019s Office spokesperson Lt. Amar Gandhi told KCRA. \u201cBut again, there was no contact made.\u201d Gofundme<\/p>\n

Deputies also tried to find Rohit at places he was known to frequent. Cops admitted there was not a \u201clarge-scale manhunt\u201d for the man at the time.<\/p>\n

Thakur said the May 29 order was violated when she believed the man had ordered or delivered groceries to her on July 29.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we made contact with him, yeah, I am certain there would have been an arrest,\u201d Sacramento County Sheriff\u2019s Office spokesperson Lt. Amar Gandhi told KCRA.<\/a> \u201cBut again, there was no contact made.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deputies also tried to find Rohit at places he was known to frequent. Gandhi acknowledged investigators did not launch a \u201clarge-scale manhunt\u201d for the man at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not going to be a massive, large-scale manhunt for this person,\u201d Gandhi said. \u201cBut there is follow-up. There is stuff done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rohit met Thakur while she was an IHOP waitress in 2025, and he delivered DoorDash orders from her workplace. Instagram\/abc10tv<\/p>\n

The alleged restraining-order violation was considered a lower-level misdemeanor, Gandhi said. Even if Rohit had been arrested, he could have been cited or booked before prosecutors and a judge determined what happened next.<\/p>\n

The matter was not classed as domestic violence because the pair had not been involved romantically, the spokesperson said. Gandhi said Thakur described their relationship as being friends.<\/p>\n

Rohit met Thakur while she was an IHOP waitress in 2025, and he delivered DoorDash orders from her workplace.<\/p>\n

Rohit\u2019s behavior became increasingly disturbing throughout the year, according to the Sacramento sheriff\u2019s office and court documents.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0He once slashed her tires and then followed\u00a0her, offering\u00a0to change them when she pulled over.<\/p>\n

Sacramento cops said they could not have done more to prevent the tragedy. Instagram\/abc10tv<\/p>\n

Asked whether the Sheriff\u2019s Office could have done more before Thakur\u2019s killing, Gandhi said no.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just the sad truth of it all. These cases, they come in every day,\u201d Gandhi said. \u201cThese detectives do have stacks of these cases, and they do follow up on these cases literally every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo say that nothing was done is absolutely incorrect,\u201d Gandhi said.<\/p>\n

California\u2019s sanctuary state laws also limited the Sheriff\u2019s Office\u2019s ability to cooperate with federal immigration authorities who could potentially have taken Rohit into custody.<\/p>\n

Gandhi acknowledged the limitations of what he believed to be an \u201cimperfect justice system.\u201d CBS NEWS<\/p>\n

Department of Homeland Security officials arrested Rohit in August 2023 after he crossed into the US at the Arizona border. He was released on an \u201corder of recognizance\u201d during the Biden administration just a month later, and DHS said he remained in the country illegally.<\/p>\n

Gandhi acknowledged the limitations of what he called an \u201cimperfect justice system.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Thakur and Rohit both dead, the victim\u2019s family is left without justice or their loved one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am alone in this world,\u201d Sudesh Kumari told reporters after her daughter\u2019s death. \u201cRestraining order after restraining order\u2026 police did not protect my daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe loved them all. She loved everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheriff\u2019s officials previously said the quick response from law enforcement prevented Rohit from inflicting more carnage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that individual was headed somewhere else to do someone else harm,\u201d Sacramento Sheriff Jim Cooper said.<\/p>\n

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