theater. >> capitol riot manhunt, the fbi releases new video showing assaults on police officers hoping the public will help pubh identify some of the most violent offenders. more than two dozen tornadoes reported in the south. some packing winds up to 130 miles per hour. angry putin. the russian leader lashes out after president biden calls him a killer and says their country will pay a price for election interference. >> attention pet owners: is a popular flea collar to blame for the death of nearly 1,700 dogs and cats? peloton safety warning after a child dies. the company's message tonight about keeping your kids safe. and the sweet story of a hugging machine, a five year old's invention that lets students hug their teacher during the pandemic. this is the cbs evening news with norah o'donnell. >> o'donnell: good evening to our viewers in the west, and thank you for joining us, we will begin with new developments in the shooting rampage in the atlanta area that left eight people dead and the country reeling. tonight there is new video showing the alleged killer calmly leaving one of the asian spas he targeted moments after gunning people down inside. investigators are now saying there is evidence that robert long was a customer at two of the spas where he opened fire. police in atlanta said today they aren't taking the idea that the shooting were a hate crime off the table. and on capitol hill tonight, members of congress are warning of a disturbing spike in asian americans has now reached a crisis point. and as we come on the air take a look at this, the flag over the white house has been lowered to half-staff as a mark of respect for the victims killed in georgia. and tomorrow, the president and vice president will fly to atlanta to meet with leaders of the asian community there. we also have new details on a dangerous surge of coronavirus infections that is now happening across more than a dozen states. and a warning tonight, for pet owners about a popular flea and tick collar that may be linked to the deaths of nearly 1,700 pets. we have a lot of new reporting for you and your family tonight. our team of correspondents standing by. cbs' mark strassmann will lead off our coverage from georgia, good evening, mark. >> good evening, norah. as fear ripples through atlanta's asian community, two separate police investigations are building a case against the confessed killer. but many critics have an issue with the attitude of some law enforcement. >> surveillance video obtained by the daily mail shows robert long's black hyundai pull up to young's asian massage. police say he confessed to gunning down four people inside. two of them asian women. moments later, long walked back to his car and drove away. then bedlam as dazes and wounded customers come out and police rush a report of gunshots. from cherokee county long traveled roughly 30 miles to atlanta and at two separate massage spas shot down four more people, all asian women. according to a local korean newspaper, the victim at the aromatherapy spa opened the door thinking long was a customer. but he suddenly opened fire and she was shot dead. >> he did frequent those two locations. >> reporter: atlanta police say it is not clear if the killer targeted specific people. >> the investigation into a possible hate crime, is that still on the table. >> our investigation is looking at everything. so nothing is off the table for our investigation. >> reporter: there has been a national backlash against the way cherokee county law enforcement initially pointed to long's motive. >> he has some issues, potentially sexual addiction. >> reporter: social media also jumped on how captain jay baker framed the killer's mindset. >> yesterday was a really bad day for him, and this is what he did. >> reporter: making matters worse, baker's anti-asian facebook post last year promoting t-shirts with the message, covid-19, imported virus from chy-na. recent attacks on asian americans include this 76 year old chinese woman in san francisco. sucker punched by a white man. she bloodied her attacker with a stick, he was arrested. during the pandemic, asian americans have reported nearly 3800 attacks, physical and 3,800 attacks, physical and verbal. on capitol hill the first hearing in 30 years into asian american hate was often emotional. >> this hearing was to address the hurt and pain of our community, and to find solutions and we will not let you take our voice away from us. >> reporter: in a statement today the cherokee county sheriff said he regretted any suggestion of disrespect toward the victims or sympathy toward the suspect. he made no mention of the racist t-shirt, but captain baker will no longer speak publicly about this investigation. >> o'donnell: there you go, mark strassmann, thank you. all right, tonight president biden is marking an important milestone in the fight against covid saying the country will hit his goal of administering 100 million covid shots. that is six weeks earlier than promised. but new cases are surging in more than a dozen states as new variants spread quickly. here is cbs' nikki batiste. >> tonight it is a race between the virus and vaccine. new covid hot spots starting to spike as pandemic restrictions relax. >> if we pull back prematurely we may trigger another surge. >> reporter: 15 states reporting a rapid increase in new cases in the past week. michigan leads the nation. >> we are in the fourth quarter of this fight against the vaccine. it is not over yet, there is no time to spike the football. >> reporter: in new york and new jersey the rate of new cases is at least double the national average, a variant's firsts detected in new york city may be to blame. >> beware the ides of parch. >> beware the ides of march. >> reporter: dr. peter hotez predicted variants would become problematic. >> the reason i said that was because of the b117 variant and so now we're in a race, a race to see if we can vaccinate ahead of the b117 variant before it is reached through the country. >> reporter: who is winning this race at the moment? the vaccine? or the virus? >> well, i think we're neck and neck at this point. >> reporter: and tonight the eupean uon's drug regulator says the astrazeneca vaccine is safe and effective after more than a dozen countries stopped using it over fears of blood clot, it still needs authorization in the u.s. today the white house saying it would send millions of doses to mexico and canada saying it was crucial to ending the pandemic. even with the increasing number of vaccinations, health officials are still urging the public to wear masks, that lead public to wear masks, that led to a contentious exchange on capitol hill today between dr. anthony fauci and senator rand paul. >> you want to get rid of vaccine hesitancy, wear their mask after they get their vaccine. >> let me state for the record that masks are not theater. masks are protective. >> reporter: tonight cbs news has learned the c.d.c. is planning to revise its six foot social distancing guidance down to three feet in schools tomorrow. and the new york health department tells us the javitz center here behind me will start vaccinating people around the clock again once supply increases, norah. increases, norah. batiste, thank you. >> o'donnell: that is a big change for the schools, nikki batiste, thank you. tonight the fbi is stepping up its hunt for more suspects who attacked police in the capitol insurrection. the bureau's released videos of ten suspects hoping that the public can help identify them. watch close leigh as we get more now from cbs' jeff pegues. >> the f.b.i. says the ten men in the videos were the among the most violent in the mob clashing with police. this man used his fists to punch one of the officers in the face. one dowsed police with chemical retardant from a fire extinguisher, another ruthlessly grabbed and twisted an officer's face mask. the latest suspect to be charged jeffrey mckeloff allegedly came ready to fight, prosecutors say the retired u.s. army specials forces member wore body armor and used this flagpole as a spear to target an officer who sustained an injury near his left eye. in all, 65 people have been charged with assaulting officers. officers. 134 officers were wounded in the melee, after the riot two died by suicide.. and officer brian sicknick died from injuries suffered is in the right ot. an officer was among the officers overrun that day. >> there were times when i would look out and see thousands of really angry people with just evil in their eyes. and there were multiple times where i thought i might not make it out of here alive. >> reporter: today the two men who allegedly sprayed the officer sicknick with that chemical irritant were indicted by a grand jury on ten counts including using a dangerous weapon to assault officers. norah. >> o'donnell: jeff pegues with that new information, thank you. tonight tornado watches are posted in north carolina and southern virginia following an outbreak of tornadoes that ripped a trail of destruction across the south on wednesday. cbs' david begnaud has the powerful images and remarkable stories of survival. >> reporter: there were more than two dozen tornadoes, some packing winds of up to 130 miles per hour that reportedly touched down across the south. but the majority of them were in rural alabama. and they left a trail of twisted metal and rubble. >> they started flying, bustingg through the walls, it was chaos. through the walls, it was chaos. >> reporter: jennifer paterson of tuscaloosa, alabama knew her mobile home was not a safe place. so she ended up running into the woods behind the mobile home and hung on to a tree. while another fell right through her home. >> it was all i could do was just say jesus, watch over me. jesus, watch over me. >> reporter: there were also tornadoes reported from missouri all the way down the mississippi. the severe weather produced heavy rains in parts of arkansas. take a look at the flash flooding in jonesboro neighborhood. back here in moundville, alabama where we are this is tommy muckenfuss' r.v. shop, two of his employees dove under an rv in this shed as the roof blew off. >> we got roughly six campers blew over, and in the shop. a little bit more damage than they started off with. >> a good thing they weren't in the parking lot, that is a 10,000 pound trailer sitting on the side because of the weather. you know what else this big system did it, it dropped the temperature nearly 20 degrees t is cold in the south but the best part is no major injuries, and luckily no one died. >> o'donnell: just incredible, david begnaud, thank you. well tonight echoes of the cold war as the feud has erupted between the leaders of two nuclear superpowers. president biden thinks vladimir putin is the killer and the russian president is responding. cbs' ed o'keefe responds from the white house. >> reporter: a dangerous war of words between the two presidents tonight. the kremlin and vladimir putin n hitting back at president biden hitting back at president biden for calling him a killer. >> so you know vladimir putin, you think he is a killer. >> uh-huh, i do. >> reporter: responding today in moscow putin said-- it takes one to know one. calling the relationship bad and under the threat of collapse, the kremlin also pulled its ambassador back to moscow for emergency meetings. the white house said the president has no regrets for his comments. >> the president gave a direct answer to a direct question. >> reporter: the administration is now considering new sanctions on the kremlin as early as next week after u.s. intelligence confirmed the russians interfered in the 2020 election hoping to swing the race to donald trump. >> the price he is going to pay, you will see shortly. >> reporter: the president has also vowed to retaliate against russia for their likely involvement in the solar wings computer hack which breached several federal agencies and u.s. companies. >> what is the holdup? >> some of the responses may be seen, some may be unseen. and of course the president reserves the rate to respond in a manner and time of his choosing as any president would. but he did make clear that there, that the russian government will pay a price. >> reporter: putin today also invited the president to hold virtual face to face talks that would be broadcast live around the world as early as tomorrow. the white house press secretary din't say no to the invitation only that the president is quote quite busy. norah? >> ed o'keefe at the white house, thank you. and breaking tonight only here on cbs news, members of congress are now asking for one of the largest single product recalls in u.s. history after documents show a top selling flea and tick collar may be linked to the deaths of nearly 1,700 pets. cbs' anna warner investigates. >> reporter: alex jaeger and his mom say two mondays after they mom say two months after they put a seresto color on their dog he developed seizures like this one. they say their veterinarian gave the dog epilepsy medicine but blake was never the same. >> i don't want anyone to ever go through this. >> karen told us one of her two kittens fell ill within two days of putting the collars on in august. orange tabby oscar's legs began twitching. >> on a veterinarian's advice, she says, she immediately removed the collar but oscar died that night. >> he didn't deserve that. >> reporter: seresto collars contain two pesticides designed to ward off fleas and ticks, the retailer elanco says the collars are safe. but government documents obtained by a nonprofit group say since seresto collars were introduced in 2012, more than 75,000 incidents have been reported to the epa ranges from skin irritations to seizures plus nearly 1,700 pet deaths. senior scientist nathan donley. >> the thing that struck out to me was how high these numbers are. >> reporter: elanco disputes that, saying the incident has been below 0.3% and the majority relate to non-serious effect such as skin problems, a company official said that a report is not an indication of cause. and said there is no established link between expose sure to the link between exposure to the active ingredients in seresto and pet deaths but congressman raja krishnamoorthi wants them off the market at least temporarily. >> i think that it is only appropriate in this case that the manufacturer do a volume tear recall. the manufacturer do a voluntary recall. >> reporter: the company says it is cooperating with the subcommittee but will not issue a recall. that a spokesperson told us would be up to regulators, anna return westerner, cbs news. california. >> and there is still much more news ahead on tonight's cbs evening news, an urgent warning tonight from peloton after a child died in an accident involving a treadmill. also caught on camera, a speeding impact train slams into a truck causing a fiery explosion. and a five year old, his teacher and their remarkable invention, the story straight ahead, the hugging machine. >> o'donnell: tonight an important warning from peloton which says a young child has died following an accident involving its tread plus treadmill, the company did not provide details of the accident but says there have been a small number of incidents where children have been hurt. peloton is warning users to keep children and pets away from the equipment. and after a workout to remove the safety key and store it out of reach. we also have some stunning video from a fiery crash today in oakland, california. a speeding impact train with more than 100 people on board slammed into a truck that was stuck on the tracks and pushed it nearly 100 yards. the truck driver got out before the wreck and no one aboard the train was injured. and tonight a reminder that sometimes the simplest invention can change the world. five year old avery green from long island, new york and his kindergarten teacher invented a hugging machine using a shower curtain. miss stromsky has stage four breast cancer and she missed hugging her students during the pandemic. but now she gets a parade of hugs every day with the use of that hugging machine. isn't that darling. all right, we've got another great idea, up next a project to end the cycle of violence by replacing guns with cameras. >> if you can't watch the cbs evening news, you can listen. >> o'donnell: here in washington like other cities too many are exposed to the affects of gun violence at an early age. but some are finding a way to change their focus. here's cbs' ben tracy. >> 16 year old muhammad toumbou wasn't sure what he was good at besides basketball. >> especially living in d.c., all you know is basketball, gang violence. >> right here. >> reporter: but then he heard about a program teaching kids to make short films. >> and i said i want to be a part of this. the only type of videos i ever shot was on my phone. >> reporter: it's called "don't shoot gun, shoot cameras." >> once you tell kids not to get into gang violence, what are they going to do. >> reporter: yasmine salina andd comedian rodney grant run comedian rodney grant run the program. his nephew was shot to death in 2015. >> these kids don't deserve guns in their hands. they don't deserve people not believing in them. they got to have more people believing in them. >> reporter: after working on the group's final short film, 17 year old marley mcdonald is now heading to film school.ol. >> i feel like it is important to have people that look like me telling stories about similar life experiences that i went through. >> and muhammad now knows something else he's good at. >> does that make you believe there's all sorts of other things you might be able to do and do really well. >> yes, it opened doors that i would have never thought would be opened. >> reporter: because he now sees his world through a whole new lens. >> action. >> reporter: ben tracy, cbs news, washington. >> o'donnell: and we'll be right back. >> o'donnell: tomorrow cbs' steve hartman with a new twist on a math teacher who bim a foster parent to a student, if you can't watch us live set your d.v.r. to watch us later, that is tonight's cbs evening news, i'm norah bay area roads slick and flooded this evening after hours of showers. when we could get a break. new details after an elderly asian woman fends off her attacker in san francisco. the other troubling case the police believe the suspect is behind. and the study linking former trump's rhetoric to a spike on crime. >> they have always been present but brought on by the terminology being used. oh my god. heart-stopping video of a collision that just could not be stopped on an east bay railroad. right now,