Indian-origin woman shot dead by stalker in US

Washington: A 38-year-old Indian-origin woman has been shot dead outside a restaurant in the US state of California by a 22-year-old man from India who had allegedly stalked her for months, the US Department of Homeland Security said.

The incident took place on September 8 at a shopping centre in Sacramento.

Rohit, an undocumented immigrant from India, approached Shalini Thakur at her car. When she tried to run away, Rohit chased her down, pulled out a gun, and shot her multiple times, the DHS said on Friday.

After she had fallen to the ground, he shot her again in the head at close range before fleeing in his vehicle, it said.

Authorities tried to call the driver out of the car before discovering that he had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office was quoted as saying by Fox40.com.

A spokesperson for DHS said Thakur’s killer, Rohit, was from India and entered the United States through Arizona in 2023.

He was arrested by the US 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.

Further investigation determined that Rohit had been harassing and stalking Thakur since at least January, after she discovered an Apple AirTag under the hood of her car. Rohit had also reportedly deflated the air in her car and followed her to work so he could offer her help, the report added.

He had also obtained a copy of her apartment key and entered her home as she slept, SCSO said.