custody. there's a picture there. right now the motive is unknown. it is unclear if the attacks were racially motivated. but we should know police are ramping up security in asian-american communities as a precaution. president biden has been briefed on the shootings, and at this hour he returns to the white house. we'll bring you any live comments. also today, concerns of another covid surge. cases are climbing in more than one dozen states. the cdc is sounding the alarm on two variants in california. we'll get to that in a moment. let's begin on this tragic shooting spree. our ryan young joins us this morning in atlanta. what do you know about the victims, eight total, six of them asian. what can you tell us? >> reporter: so far, very little information is coming out about the victims except, besides their races. of course, what we've been told so far is at least six of the people killed are asian. of course, we're trying to move forward with parts of this investigation. we do know in the next half hour or so police are expected to have a news conference. this will be the first one they'll have jointly with the jurisdictions involved in this. you've got to realize, this happened in several different areas. we do basically have cherokee county sheriff's department and the atlanta police department involved. if you look behind me, that's one of the spas they focused on. they arrested 21-year-old robert long. he was taken into custody after police were able to get out some of the pertinent information yesterday shortly after the shooting about the car he was driving and what he looked like. georgia state patrol troopers were able to perform a pit maneuver during a chase and take him into custody. all the questions center around the motive. people want to know exactly why this happened. what we're hoping is police are able to give us an indication about what they've been able to learn from the suspect. we're trying to figure out whether or not there will be a first court appearance today or tomorrow. that's something we hope to learn in the press conference. in the next half hour, hopefully we'll get more from investigators. we new from last night, one of the reasons they've been slow walking some of this notification about who was killed is they needed to tell the family members who obviously lost loved ones. it's got to be a tough time for them, to find out z their loved ones were killed in these separate shootings. we think that notification process has happened. maybe today we'll learn more about the victims. we talked to someone who worked in a business nearby and say all the women who were killed were customers of theirs and they felt really horrible about the fact that they were at work and could hear the gunshots in the distance and didn't have any clue about what it was and figured out that friends of theirs, who had come to this business for years, had been killed yesterday. there was a lot of conversation about who has been killed and what will be next. once again, that news conference should start within the next 35 minutes or so. we'll get hopefully more details from investigators as they work on this case. >> a devastating act of violence. ryan young, thanks very much. let's speak more about the investigation going forward with cnn correspondent and former fbi supervisory special agent josh campbell. josh, it's good to have you on, because you have direct experience of investigations into crimes like this, and it's early. you clearly have a pattern here. six of the sick tims were asian-american, took place at these massage parlors. it's early in the investigation. what do police look for right now as they're investigating this, from social media, past statements, et cetera? what are they looking for right now? >> jim, they're going to, what they call, circle this target. they're going to learn everything about this id have's life, from his digital footprint, a window into one's thinking. they'll interview his associates, family members and the like. they'll interview him. this is one incident where you have a shooter who is in custody. we know in past incidents, sometimes the shooter dies, sometimes the shooter takes his or her own life. here we have a state trooper that was bravely able to bring that suspect's vehicle to a stop and authorities have him. the question will be does he cooperate? we have seen in some instances, where especially if this ends up being a hate crime, which appears -- you look at all the victims here, the commonalities. it appears that could be the case. sometimes you have people with those deranged beliefs who are proud of what they do. so he may readily admit to authorities what his motivation was, since authorities have him in custody, there's no reason for them to come out and provide any information that gets ahead of their investigation. this isn't a manhunt. they have him. i suspect we'll be relying on our reporting and sources to get information. i don't think we'll hear authorities come out and say in the short term what that motivation was. >> josh, do they need him to say what his motivation was in order to call it a hate crime? what's the bar? i mean, if i'm an asian-american a watching this this morning, i see a clear pattern here. >> absolutely. i think we all see that clear pattern. this just goes to show this kind of hatred against the asian-american, pacific islander community that we've been talking about for well over a year now, that they continue to be targeted in many different ways. if it ends up this was the actual motivation, such a very serious and sad, obviously, occurrence, that shows that this problem is out here. you question about the motivation and whether he needs to say it, the authorities always want the confession, they always want someone to articulate why they did what they did, but they don't need that. if he clams up, if he doesn't talk, they can look at other ways, writings and communications. this will be interesting to see as we compare this administration to the last administration, how the justice department, whether they actually intervene. it doesn't appear at this point that there would be any type of federal nexus. we know the fbi was assisting with the investigation. now with the civil rights division at the justice department, the biden administration has said this is something they are going to work on, obviously, to try to stop hate crimes and stop racially targeted violence in this country. whether we see the federal government jumping in here and actually asserting a role to say, look, these kind of crimes need to stop, that will be something to watch. >> thank you, josh, very much. good to have you. tragic story. minutes from now president biden is expected to arrive back at the white house after attending a st. patrick's day mass near his family's home in delaware. >> he is irish after all. the president is now facing major kcrises on more than one front. of course, the coronavirus pandemic as well as a growing surge at the southern border and a question now about the timing of when to pull troops out of afghanistan. joining us now, cnn's john harwood at the white house. certainly a lot on the president's plate this morning. do we expect immediate decisions on any of these issues? >> no, we don't. on afghanistan in particular, he's looking to take more time. this is an incredibly tough problem, as you know, jim. the longest war in american history, going on 20 years. of course, initiated after 9/11 because of the taliban's control and their cooperation with al qaeda. everyone in both parties wants what they've come to call the forever war to be brought to a close. on the other hand, you don't want to have a return to the situation that caused the war to start in the first place, a return to power by the taliban and afghanistan becoming a launching pad for terrorism. president biden facing this may 1 deadline for withdrawal of troops that was set by former president trump, leaning on two different arguments for why he wants more time. one is he says the agreement that president trump negotiated was not all that solid. and secondly, he's saying trump's behavior after the election made it more difficult for him to get out of the blocks fast on this issue. take a listen. >> the failure to have an orderly transition from the trump presidency to my presidency, which usually takes place from election day to the time he's sworn in, has cost me time and consequences. that's one of the issues we're talking about now in terms of afghanistan. >> reporter: of course, the irony is that vice president -- joe biden as vice president for president obama was one of the ones very skeptical for arguments of surging troops there to try to stabilize that situation early in the obama administration. eventually president obama came around to his view of a more minimalist presence of u.s. troops. the question now is whether joe biden himself decides that it is unwise to complete the job by taking all those troops back because the consequences that would occur. he's engaging u.s. allies in trying to work this out. he clearly wants a little more time than is on the clock right now to deal with the issue. >> but biden, historically skeptical of long-term troop commitments in the middle east. john howard, thanks very much. the cdc is calling two new coronavirus variants discovered in california variants of concern. they're about 20% more transmissible. the cdc says some treatments could be less effective, but the signs on the vaccines, and this is important, is much better in terms of their effectiveness against these variants. >> this comes as more than a dozen states have seen at least a 10% increase in new cases of covid over the last week. our chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta is with us this morning. good morning, sanjay. we're glad you're here. jim makes such a great point. i'm glad he's emphasizing this. i want you to reemphasize it for our viewers. it's not great to see new variants, horrible to see an increase in cases. there's no evidence that the three authorized vaccines currently used in the u.s., don't protect against them, right? >> yeah, that's right. that's a critical point. just languagewise as people follow this, variants of concern are something we'll probably hear a lot of. none of these variants, these two from california, none of them rise to what they call variants of highest consequence. the way it would get that designation is if there is the appearance that it's starting to escape vaccine immunity. we don't see that. they still work really well in terms of hospitalizations and deaths, preventing those. >> sanjay, i'm a little confused personally as a consumer of this news, and we're talking about it every day on the air, the significance of variants. it's natural for these viruses to mutate and develop new variants. but the vaccine so far showing themselves to still work. then you have interesting data like in south africa, one of the sources of these variants, has seen a dig drop-off in infections as kind of home base to the variant. are we exaggerating the importance or the danger of these? how should people absorb this is really my question. >> first of all, i think it's important to point out with south africa, what's interesting is the vaccination rates are still quite low, and yet they've had the significant drop-off. that speaks to something that is a more fundamental point, which is the basic public health strategies do work, variant or no variant. they may be more transmissible, but masks, physical distancing, things like that still work. are we making too big a deal about this? it's a fair question, jim. we are monitoring things very closely. our antennas are really high. i think that's part of what we're seeing with astrazeneca in europe. we're evaluating it and saying, okay, this isn't a big deal. we have to monitor the variants. the concern is if one mutates enough to escape the protective effects of the vaccines. if you think of the flu virus even, part of the reason we get a new flu shot every year because there's enough strains out there that we have to continuously inoculate people. >> it's sad, but there's now a divide politically among people willing or not willing to get the vaccine. i think 46% of republicans say they don't want it. at least now president trump is saying you should get it. he could have done more on that front. here is what president biden side last night. >> i honest to god thought we had it out. i honest to god thought once we guaranteed we had enough vaccine for everybody, things would start to calm down. wemple, they have calmed down a great deal, but i just don't understand this match cho thing about i'm not going to get the vaccine, i have a right as an american, my freedom to not do it. why not be a patriot and protect other people? >> is there anything more the administration can do, sanjay, to convince those folks? >> i just got to say, it's interesting. i feel like this last year so head down in covid, learning about the virus, the transmission, all these types of things. this issue that president biden is talking about is not a new issue. it's always been perplexing to me. we struggle so hard to create these vaccines, and it's this amazing science and it can rescue us. then we get there, people are like, yeah, take it or leave it. we see the same thing with the flu vaccine. half of american adults in any given year get the flu vaccine which is one of those things. what can people do? historically what we've learned is it does help when leaders come out and say they endorse the vaccine, but it's typically people's primary doctors and pharmacists who end up being the biggest predictors. if they're on board and counseling their patients, they're the biggest influencers overall in terms of not only addressing vaccine hesitancy or vaccine fade. i'm not worried about it, i just don't think i need it. that's what you're laerg a lot. >> that's the wgreat way to describe it. sanjay, thank you. >> thank you. right now homeland security secretary is on capitol hill. house lawmakers are asking a lot of key questions about the surge of migrants at the southern border, especially unaccompanied children in u.s. custody right now. fighting over the filibuster. president biden now suggesting he would support reform to what has become a truly powerful senate rule. will enough senators back that idea? what does it mean for his legislative priorities? at the bottom of the hour, we're expecting a briefing from the atlanta police department on these multiple shootings that left eight people dead, six of asian descent at three massage parlors. we'll bring it to you live. bipo. emptiness. a hopeless struggle. the lows of bipolar depression can disrupt your life and be hard to manage. latuda could make a real difference in your symptoms. latuda was proven to significantly reduce bipolar depression symptoms, and in clinical studies, had no substantial impact on weight. now i'm feeling connected. empowered. latuda is not for everyone. call your doctor about unusual mood changes, behaviors or suicidal thoughts. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. elderly dementia patients on latuda have an increased risk of death or stroke. call your doctor about fever, stiff muscles, and confusion, as these may be life-threatening, or uncontrollable muscle movements as these may be permanent. these are not all the serious side effects. this is where i want to be. talk to your doctor and ask if latuda could make the difference you've been looking for in your bipolar depression symptoms. mom and dad left costa rica, 1971. you've been looking for and in 1990, they opened irazu. when the pandemic hit, pickup and delivery was still viable. and that kept us afloat. keeping our diners informed on google was so important. the support from our customers, it honestly kept us going. i will always be grateful for that. never run dry of... killer attitude. or hydration. neutrogena® hydro boost. the #1 hyaluronic acid moisturizer delivers 2x the hydration for supple, bouncy skin. neutrogena®. this just in to cnn. two jurors were just dismissed by the judge in the trial of former minneapolis police officer derek chauvin. >> omar jimenez joins us again in minneapolis. why were they dismissed? >> reporter: we were just talking a few minutes ago. judge peter cahill was beginning to requestion the seven jurors selected to see if news of that record civil settlement paid to the george floyd family, to see if these jurors heard the news about it and whether it impacted their ability to be fair and i'm martial. the judge here decided that two of them were no longer able to be fair and impartial in this case. it speaks to the concerns that defense attorneys for derek chauvin had about the timing and the magnitude of it, that it would be difficult to avoid especially here in the minneapolis area. it's why they asked for a delay in the striel. we know the judge has been considering that up to this point. he now says he's going to make a decision this friday on whether we can continue with this trial as is. he's going to use the questioning of the prospective jurors continuing today and into tomorrow as well as data for whether this can continue as it is. jim, poppy. >> significant development. you can imagine public reaction to a prolonged delay. omar jimenez on the story, thanks very much. dhs secretary alejandro mayorkas is facing a grilling on capitol hill, facing questions about the crisis at the southern border, the surge there, the growing number in particular of unaccompanied children now being held for days after they cross. >> our priscilla alvarez is joining us. you've been to the border so many times covering this, especially the most recent surge. what is the most important question for the secretary to answer today? >> reporter: the top democrat and the top republican have already spoken this morning. they are expressing concern about how do they handle the situation on the border. mayorkas has called this an historic and unprecedented challenge, he has said, record number of children crossing the border. the question we expect to hear is how are they handling it and how do we move forward from here. >> you also have new reporting on the conditions in these facilities for children. the numbers are increasingly off the charts. conditions were a key issue in the trump administration. of course, one of those policies biden reversed which is deliberate family separation. what are you learning? >> reporter: we're starting to get a glimpse of what these conditiontion look like no these border patrol facilities. children are alternating sleeping schedules to try to get some rest. they're showering every few days. border patrol agents are putting out bunk beds and plastic cots and mats. these are border patrol facilities, jail-like facilities that have concrete walls and concrete benches. this is not where children are supposed to spend prolonged periods of time. that is what is happening because the administration is running low on slel ter capacity because of precautions put in place over the course of the past year for the coronavirus pandemic. that's the south koreaable happening behind the scenes, trying to get these kids out of these border patrol facilities where, again, they're in crowded conditions. >> we're talking about 13,000 total between hhs and border patrol being held, of children, many of them unaccompanied. you just described some of the conditions, jail-like. but we haven't been allowed inside. our rosa florez sitting outside one of the facilities yesterday telling us despite multiple requests, the administration will not let them in. where's the transparency? >> like you said, we are asking for access. both of the border patrol facilities