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A 22-year-old man accused of chasing down and fatally shooting a woman outside an Arden Arcade restaurant Tuesday had stalked and harassed her for months, prompting her to obtain a restraining order before she was gunned down, Sacramento County sheriff’s officials said Wednesday.
Read more Man stalked woman for months before Arden Arcade killing, Sacramento sheriff says
Investigators identified the suspected gunman as Rohit Rohit, who was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside his vehicle on Highway 50 shortly after the killing.
The 38-year-old woman was shot just before 3 p.m. Tuesday near the Panera Bread on Howe and Northrup avenues. Her name has not been released by the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office.
Sheriff’s homicide detectives said Rohit had harassed and stalked the woman since at least January, when she discovered an Apple AirTag hidden under the hood of her vehicle.
His behavior grew increasingly alarming, deputies said in a statement detailing the killing and what had unfolded on eastbound Highway 50 during the afternoon commute — the second of three freeway shutdowns for the busy east-west artery on Tuesday.
In one instance, investigators said, Rohit deflated a tire on the woman’s vehicle and followed her to work so he could offer to help her. In another, he obtained a copy of her apartment key and entered her home while she was sleeping.
Rohit told the woman the next morning that he had entered her apartment because he was concerned something had happened to her when she did not answer, sheriff’s officials said.
The woman initially declined to pursue criminal charges or seek a restraining order, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Deputies and detectives remained concerned about her safety and stayed in contact with her over the following months.
Deputies again urged the woman in May to obtain a restraining order, which she did, sheriff’s officials said.
On July 29, deputies took a report from the woman alleging Rohit had violated the restraining order by leaving random grocery items at her front door.
Investigators Wednesday were still trying to determine what immediately preceded the killing.
Detectives learned Rohit arrived at the shopping center in the 900 block of Howe Avenue in his vehicle shortly before 3 p.m. The woman was dropped off a short time later near her vehicle, which was already parked there, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Read more Pedestrian stuck, killed on Highway 50 near Sacramento in late-night collision
Rohit approached the woman and confronted her, investigators said. When she tried to run away, Rohit chased her, pulled out a gun and shot her multiple times.
After the woman fell to the ground, “Rohit then walked over her lying body and shot her in the head at close range,” sheriff’s officials said.
Witnesses provided deputies with a description of Rohit’s vehicle, a Mini Cooper, which authorities entered into the Sheriff’s Office’s automated license plate reader system powered by Flock Safety. “Almost instantly,” according to deputies, the system provided the vehicle’s last known location, and deputies assigned to Sacramento Regional Transit spotted the vehicle near Highway 50 and Howe Avenue minutes later.
When deputies attempted to stop Rohit, he slammed on his brakes and stopped on the freeway, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies spent some time ordering Rohit out of the vehicle before determining he was “deceased from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.”
The incident prompted authorities to close eastbound Highway 50 for several hours Tuesday afternoon as deputies investigated.
Hours earlier, westbound Highway 50 near Hazel Avenue was closed through the morning commute after a late-night pursuit ended in a fatal shooting involving CHP officers, Sacramento County sheriff’s deputies and Citrus Heights police. The freeway reopened about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday after forcing commuters from the county’s eastern suburbs and El Dorado County onto surface streets to reach the city’s core.
Then, just before 10 p.m. Tuesday, a pedestrian was struck and killed on westbound Highway 50 east of Interstate 5 near downtown Sacramento. The collision closed multiple lanes for about two hours while CHP officers investigated.
Tuesday afternoon’s homicide investigation remained ongoing Wednesday, the Sheriff’s Office said. Detectives asked anyone with information to call the Sheriff’s Office non-emergency line at 916-874-5115.
The Bee’s Rosalio Ahumada and Darrell Smith contributed to this story.
This story was originally published September 9, 2026 at 10:14 AM with the headline “Man stalked woman for months before Arden Arcade killing, Sacramento sheriff says.”
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