Immigration Officials Say Man Who Stalked, Executed Woman at Panera Bread Was in the Country Illegally

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed Friday the man who investigators say stalked a woman for months before executing her in a Panera Bread parking lot in Sacramento this week was in the country illegally.

The victim was 38-year-old Shalini Thakur and her mother has said authorities failed to protect her.

A spokesperson for DHS said Thakur’s killer, 22-year-old Rohit Rohit, was from India and entered the United States through Arizona in 2023. He was arrested by the U.S. Border Patrol and released by the Biden administration, according to the spokesperson. The exact details around his immigration status were not immediately clear as of Friday.

Federal court records online showed his case was pending. The records showed no appeal had been received for his case and there were no hearings scheduled.

Rohit killed himself amid a standoff with police on Highway 50 after the shooting. The scene left traffic at a standstill for hours.

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A spokesman for the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office told KCRA 3 earlier this week that the local agency does not have access to immigration status information. The sheriff’s office did not immediately provide a response to the DHS announcement Friday.

California’s sanctuary state law, commonly referred to as SB 54, limits local law enforcement’s ability to cooperate with immigration officials when an undocumented immigrant is accused of a crime.

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Investigators said Rohit had no known, local criminal history. He had been stalking and harassing Thakur since at least January of this year, according to the sheriff’s department. That’s when she discovered an Apple AirTag under her car’s hood.

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