new cases up 17% in just two weeks in this country. and dr. jha telling us tonight it's now a race between the vaccines and the variavariants. and the major head line tonight involving the pfizer vaccine. how long is it effective after you get that second shot. what the new data shows. and the horrifying scene in brazil tonight. our correspondent where the brials are happening around the clock because of the coronavi coronavirus, as that country recording nearly 4,000 deaths in a single day. the embattled president recently telling people there to stop whining. victor oquendo from so pal low. president biden 408ding his first cabinet meeting today, appointing five cabinet members to sell his $2 trillion inf infrastructure plan, rebuilding bridges and roads and he says creating millions of new jobs. the white house now arguing democrats and many republican voters will be behind this. the dangerous weather as we head into the easter weekend. near whiteout conditions causing this massive pileup, as frigid temperatures move in across the eastern u.s. and with easter nearly here, the woman who hasn't been able to make it to church in this pandemic. but that hasn't stropped her dressing for it. her message of gratitude tonight. she is america strong. good evening and it's great to have you with us here on a thursday night. and we begin with that awful mass shooting, the third now in less than three weeks in this country. authorities in front of the cameras just a short time ago. this time, at an office complex in orange, california. five shot, four people killed, including a 9-year-old boy. police have said they believe he might have died in his mother's arms. the first calls coming in of shots fired around 5:30 last night, west coast time. reporting active gunfire as the first officers arrived. a bystanding livestreaming as teams rushed to the scene. today, authorities say the suspect locked the gates at that complex with bike locks, trapping those inside before firing into the windows. police firing at him from outside. cutting the lock, they then found the gunman injured inside and the bodies of the four who did not survive. and then, of course, the images of loved ones, of neighbors comforting one another as investigators worked into the night. police say this was not a random act of violence, that the gunman knew the victims. authorities taking questions just moments ago and abc's kaylee hartung on the scene in california tonight. >> you should be careful. they're shooting. there's a shootout. you should back up. >> reporter: the horrific scene in orange, california, unfolding on a bystander's livestream. >> there is about ten gunshots and cops are running right there. look at that. >> reporter: officers running to this office complex. police say the gunman used bicycle locks to seal off the building's courtyard before his rampage, killing two women and a man in three separate locations. also shooting another woman and killing a 9-year-old boy in the courtyard. >> and it appears that a little boy died in his mother's arms as she was trying to save him during this horrific massacre. >> sounds like we have shots fired. let's make sure we have a good staging location. >> reporter: police engaging in a shootout with the gunman, then using bolt cutters to break the locks. >> once they were able to gain access in there, they immediately found the suspect. they took him into custody. >> reporter: this video shows police pulling someone out of the complex. the shooter identified as 44-year-old aminadab gaxiola gonzalez. >> the motive, as far as we know, is just a personal and business relationship that has gone south. >> reporter: and not a random act of violence? >> absolutely correct. not a random act of violence. >> and kaylee hartung with us tonight from the scene and we know officials say the alleged gunmen knew his victims but do we know anything more at this hour if these were family members or professional colleagues? >> reporter: well, david, authorities haven't yet identified any of the victims for us, but they say each of them had a personal or a professional relationship with the gunman. and just moments ago, orange police sharing this surveillance photo with us as the suspect carried out the attack. you see that semiautomatic handgun and in that backpack slung over his shoulder, officials say they recovered ammunition, hand cups and pepper spray. david, the district attorney here says he will pursue the death penalty. david? >> just one more awful scene in this country. kaylee hartung leading us off tonight. thank you. the other major headline tonight, chilling new testimony in the trial of former police derek chauvin in the death of george floyd. paramedics, first responders who arrived on the scene, taking the scene today. seth braviner saying when he saw the officers on top of floyd, that he thought floyd must be resisting, but then said he saw he wasn't moving or breathing. his partner derek smith saying when he got closer to george floyd, he thought he was dead. george floyd's girlfriend, courteney ross, also testifying today about their struggle with opioids. abc's alex perez again tonight from minneapolis. >> reporter: today, paramedic seth bravinder testifying that when the ambulance arrived on the scene, he thought police were still wrestling with george floyd. >> there were multiple officers on top of the patient when we pulled up at that point. i assumed that there was potentially some struggle still because they were still on top of him. >> reporter: but when he got out of the ambulance, he realized that wasn't the case. >> i didn't see any breathing or movement or anything like that. >> did he appear to be unresponsive to you at that point in time? >> from what i could tell just standing from a distance, yes. >> reporter: the other paramedic derek smith approached floyd. >> the officers were still on him when i approached. >> and what did his condition appear to be to you overall? >> in lay terms, i thought he was dead. >> reporter: you can see smith here, taking floyd's pulse, former officer derek chauvin still with his knee on floyd's neck. the paramedic testifying floyd had no heartbeat and wasn't breathing. and that police were doing nothing to help. >> there were no medical services being provided to the patient. >> reporter: in the ambulance, smith says he tried his best to save floyd. >> it's a human being and i was trying to give him a second chance at life. >> reporter: but it was too late. >> when i showed up, he was deceased and when i dropped him off at the hospital, he was still in cardiac arrest. >> reporter: after the ambulance left, chauvin got a call from his supervisor sergeant david pleoger. he had heard from a concerned 911 dispatcher was watching the scene play out over security camera. she testified that she thought the video had frozen because the officers were on top of floyd for so long. she says she knew something was wrong. >> you can call me a snitch if you want to -- and all of them sat on this man. so i don't know if they needed to or not. >> reporter: the sergeant then calling chauvin. this is what chauvin told him. >> we just had to hold a guy down. he was going crazy. >> reporter: but the sergeant testified that in that phone call, chauvin never told him he had pinned floyd down with a knee on his neck. today the jury also hearing from floyd's girlfriend of three years, courteney ross. >> we saw each other as much as we possibly could. >> reporter: but she acknowledged they abused prescription drugs. >> it's a classic story of how many people get addicted to opioids. we both suffer from chronic pain. mine was in my neck, and his was in his back. we got addicted and tried really hard to break that addiction many times. >> reporter: under cross examination, she confirmed floyed was hospitalized after an overdose in march. >> and it was your belief that mr. floyd started using again about two weeks prior to his death, correct? >> i noticed a change in his behavior, yes. >> reporter: the defense argues drugs contributed to floyd's death. and today, chauvin's attorney also seeming to imply that in floyd's final moments, when he called out "mama," he was actually calling for his girlfriend. >> you -- you and floyd, mr. floyd, excuse me, i'm assuming like most couples, had pet names for each other. >> yes. >> and what was his name for you? i mean, what were you saved -- let me strike that. what were you saved in his phone as? >> mama. >> reporter: the prosecutor quickly trying to dismantle that theory that floyd was calling for his girlfriend and not his mother. >> what did he call his mother, what did he refer to her as? >> he called her mama, too. >> that moment getting a lot of attention today. alex perez with us again tonight from minneapolis and alex, i want to get back to the paramedics and what were prosecutors trying to do today with testimony from the first responders, all echoing one another. one paramedic saying he thought george floyd was dead. >> reporter: yeah, david, prosecutors are trying to prove that george floyd died on the scene. those emts and a fire captain all testifying that they believe he was dead when they arrived. their testimony helping to hammer home two key points that the prosecutor is trying to prove to the jury. that derek chauvin assaulted floyd and that his actions killed him. david? >> alex perez, thank you. now to the coronavirus in this country, and the alarming new number tonight. cases up 17% in just the past two weeks. dr. jha telling us, it is now a race between the vaccines and the variants. and that the variants are pulling ahead. and news tonight on that troubling human error at a factory set to produce the johnson & johnson one-shot vaccine. likely effecting millions of future doses. dr. fauci on that tonight. and the numbers. 9 99,088,000 people with at least one dose. 38% of all adults in the country. and the major news tonight involving the pfizer vaccine. how long is it effective after you get that second shot? what the new data shows. and here's abc's erielle reshef tonight. >> reporter: tonight, the race to vaccination a country facing an alarming rise in the coronavirus. cases up 17% in the last two weeks with hospital admissions climbing. >> eventually i think the vaccines will win this race, but right now the variants are pulling ahead, and while we've got a lot of vaccinations happening, it's not going to be enough. >> reporter: in michigan today, the first confirmed case of the brazilian variant, as cases of the uk variant are surging. beaumont health now expanding its covid units after the number of patients quadrupled, many of them younger and unvaccinated. >> when you take an at-risk population with at-risk behaviors and a virus that's more transmissible, it's really a perfect storm. >> reporter: tonight, more evidence of the power of vaccines. pfizer reporting six months after the second dose, the vaccine was at 91% protective against symptomatic disease, and 95% protective against severe disease. the pfizer vaccine also appears to work against the worrisome south african variant. but johnson & johnson is facing fresh scrutiny after an ingredient mixup at a baltimore manufacturing plant, potentially ruined about 15 million future doses. >> it's really quite unfortunate that about 15 million doses now are not going to be able to be used. but you do have checks and balances, and you see that. and that's the reason why the good news is that it did get picked up. >> reporter: the mistake at bioemergent caught weeks ago during a quality control check. the fda saying there was no risk to anyone already vaccinated and none of the ingredients in question made their way into final doses. johnson & johnson insists it's still on track to deliver 100 million doses by the end of may. today, thousands of excited fans filling into stands for baseball's opening day. each stadium with its own safety protocol. at yankee stadium, temperature checks and proof of vaccination or a negative test required. but the texas rangers will reopen their ballpark at full capacity. the president calling it a mistake. >> i think it's a mistake. they should listen to dr. fauci and the scientists and the experts. and -- but i think it's not responsible. >> reporter: today's game between the mets and the washington nationals postponed due to contact tracing after a nationals player tested positive. >> all right, so, let's get right to erielle reshef tonight. and erielle, just to underscore why authorities in this country are so concerned talking about those variants that are still spreading, just north of therd boor tonight, in ontario, canada, they are now facing another wave of the virus and they are now having a formal shutdown yet again? >> reporter: that's right, david. officials say they will head into a four-week shutdown starting on saturday. they say they are pulling the emergency brake due to the rapidly spreading variants. david? >> all right, erielle, thank you. and we stay on this tonight, and the horrifying scene in brazil at this hour. that country reporting nearly 4,000 deaths in a single day from the virus. burials taking place around the clock. the embattled president recently telling people there to stop whining. abc's victor oquendo where they're burying victims into the night. he's in sao >> reporter: tonight, mages of gravediggers in brazil working around the clock, burials in the dark of night, telling the story of a country in crisis. covid-19 death toll is staggering, a record 3,780 lives lost in a single day this week. more than 315,000 dead over the last year. this is just one of the covid sections inside the largest public cemetery in sao paulo, and the reality is, they just can't keep up. they are digging new graves from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., and it's not just happening here but across brazil. latin america's biggest country, the epicenter of the pandemic. much of the blame falling on embattled president jair bolsonaro, who has criticized lockdowns, denied science and lashed out at leaders who defy him. who himself tested positive for covid-19 and recently told brazilian people to, quote, stop whining about the death toll. now the health care system is on the brink of collapse, with the highly contagious p-1 variant running rampant, especially among younger people. >> we don't have enough space, enough beds, enough oxygen, enough medications for all these people with this variant that is >> reporter: the rapidly spreading virus severely outpacing vaccine distribution. just over 2% of the population vaccinated so far. maria de jesus' 22-year-old son renan was stuck on a waiting list for an icu bed in sao paulo. by the time he received treatment for the coronavirus, it was too late. he died two weeks ago. now telling us she doesn't want anyone to suffer the way she is now. i wish i could give her a hug right now. >> this pandemic ravaging brazil. victor, just devastating, that reporting there, and what do you do in a country with skyrocketing cases and deaths and a president who told the people there to stop whining, even as numbers worsen? >> reporter: david, there's no easy answer in a country that is now on its fourth minister of health since the start of the pandemic. but the president is changing his tune a little bit, with an election around the corner. he is now scrambling to buy as much vaccine as possible. what health officials tell me is so frustrating, brazil has the capacity to widely distribute vaccine, they just don't have the supply. david? >> really important reporting tonight. victor, thank you. back here at home tonight, and president biden holding his first cabinet meeting today, appointing five cabinet members to lead the effort now to sell his massive new infrastructure plan, to rebuild bridges and roads across this country. and the president says creating millions of new jobs in the process. the white house arguing tonight democrats and republican voters, they say, will be behind this. in washington, though, republican leaders already fighting this. let's get right to our senior white house correspondent mary bruce live at the white house tonight. mary, what's the latest? >> reporter: well, david, the president knows it is going to be an uphill battle to pass this, so today at his first socially distanced cabinet meeting, president biden named those five secretaries who will be leading this charge, selling the plan to the public, but also engaging with congress, and they face a huge task ahead of them. even getting democrats united behind this plan could be a real challenge. as for republicans, leader mcconnell today said bluntly, this will not get their support. republicans oppose biden's plan to raise taxes. but the president is challenging them to come up with an alternative, saying if they agree in this need to invest in inf infrastructure, then what's their plan to pay for it? david? >> mary bruce tonight at the white house. mary, thank you. when we come back here, the massive pileup, ice and snow. the major system. and now the frijt temperatures moving in just as we start the holiday weekend. there's also news tonight coming in on a beloved college coming in on a beloved college coach. ] [ race light countdown ] ♪ ♪ when you save money with allstate you feel like you're winning. safe drivers save 40% saving is easy when you're in good hands. allstate. click or call for a quote today. alright, i brought in ensure max protein... saving is easy when you're in good hands. ...to give you the protein you need with less of the sugar you don't (grunting noise) i'll take that. yeeeeeah! 30 grams of protein and 1 gram of sugar drink, play, and win big in the powered by protein challenge! if you have... ...moderate to severe psoriasis, ... ...little things... ...can become your big moment. that's why there's 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stopping with nicorette we are tracking that system that brought near whiteout conditions, causing a massive highway pileup in ohio. the crash involving about 20 cars, shutting down a stretch of interstate 77 near richfield this afternoon. no reports of any serious injuries. and now a cold blast moves into the east. wind chills in the 20s from atlanta all the way up to boston, with some record lows possible in the northeast. the two volcanic eruptions overseas tonight. new drone footage showing lava spewing from a geyser near iceland's capital. the volcano erupting first two weeks ago. and tonight, italy's mt. etna erupting for a 17th time since february. no risk to nearby towns or residents in either country, but just stunning images coming in. when we come back, news on that famous and beloved coach. we listen. like jack. he wanted a streamlined version he could access anywhere, no download necessary. and kim. she wanted to execute a pre-set trade strategy in seconds. so we gave 'em 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carolina announcing williams is retiring after 33 seasons with the tar heels and the university of kansas. 903 wins, three national championships. when we come back, the woman we saw, her smile, her joy, her outfits. just in time for this holy weekend. the family together? was that your grandfather, paving the way for change. did they brave mother nature... and walk away stronger? did they face the unknown, with resolve...and triumph. ♪ there's strength in every family story. learn more about yours. at ancestry. we don't follow the herd. there's strength in every family story. never have. never will. because those who build the future aren't found in a pack. they forge the way forward - on a path of their own. and, just when you think the dust has settled, we're here...to kick it right back up again. the all-new, all-electric 2021 mustang mach-e is here. ♪ ♪ want to eliminate odors without heavy, overwhelming scents? we get it. try febreze light. it eliminates odors with no heavy 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[szasz] we take care of ourselves constantly; it's important. we walk three to five times a week, a couple miles at a time. - we've both been taking prevagen for a little more than 11 years now. after about 30 days of taking it, we noticed clarity that we didn't notice before. - it's still helping me. i still notice a difference. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. my body is truly powerful. i have the power to lower my a1c. because my body can still make its own insulin. and trulicity activates my body to release it, lowering my blood sugar from the first dose. once-weekly trulicity responds when my body needs it, 24/7. trulicity is for type 2 diabetes. it's not insulin. it isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't take trulicity if you're allergic to it, you or your family have medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. stop trulicity and call your doctor right away if you have an allergic reaction, a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, changes in vision, or diabetic retinopathy. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. taking trulicity with sulfonylurea or insulin raises low blood sugar risk. side effects include indigestion, fatigue, belly pain, decreased appetite, nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting which can lead to dehydration and may worsen kidney problems. i have it within me to lower my a1c. ask your doctor about trulicity. finally, the woman named lavergne most definitely america strong. every sunday since this pandemic began, 82-year-old lavergne from tulsa, oklahoma, has not been able to attend in person sunday service at metropolitan baptist church. but that hasn't stopped her from dressing for it. the church has been streaming their sunday service and lavergne has been dressing in her sunday best from her living room. for more than a year now, she has not missed a service. sharing her smile, her joy and her outfits on facebook. blue, green, yellow, red. lavergne writing, "ready for the word via streaming. maintaining my church decorum." adding, "let us remain safe and stay at home. we must protection ourselves, family and community." as restrictions ease, they're holding services outside, lavergne wearing a mask. so many moved by lavergne, writing, "love you, your style, your wisdom. such a blessing to see you each week week." and "missing you. stay strong and safe." tonight, lavergne now getting ready for easter. thank you, lavergne. happy easter. good night. this is abc 7 news. we are back in a bit of a precarious place as far as our collective ability to curb this pandemic. we all want to get out of. we want to get back to our lives. we can't do that so close, yet so far. new variants of covid-19 are here in the bay area. the warning ahead of the holiday weekend. good afternoon and thank you for joining us. as of today, anyone over 50 can get vaccinated in california. more businesses including theme parks can reopen across the state. it is not all good news as more variants of the covid-19 are detected in the bay area. we have a warning from south bay officials. after a gradual drop in cases, since account santa clara county health officials are raising concerns over an alarming rise in variance that can threaten the communities progress. >> we need people to hold on for a little bit longer. >> only a fraction of covid-19 cases undergo genomic sequencing, dr. sarah cody says the case is linked to more variance is climbing. >> keep wearing a mask. delay your travel. don't enjoy dying. don't go to indoor bars. don't host an indoor gathering at your home. even if it is allowed under state rules, don't do it. it is not faith, not yet. >> every variant detected in santa clara county including separate variance first detected in the united kingdom, south africa, brazil, california. the rise comes as the county faces low vaccine supply from the state even as eligibility