this is "nightline." >> tonight, russian war crimes? the horror in the streets ukraine wants the world to see. plus crimewave. the deadliest mass shooting in sacramento. >> three walking gunshot wounds. >> part of a bloody weekend claiming more innocent lives. >> sergio was full of life. always there to help somebody. >> as pandemic gun crime rises across the country, what's behind the recent surge? then selena gomez. the star who's shared her own mental health struggles, now helping others with theirs. >> try to take what's going on and turn it into something beautiful. >> known for her hit like "look at her now.""

how she says walking away from her huge social media following changed her life. >> i probably am the happiest i've ever been, my mom knows. and grammys honor. the touching tribute. "nightline" will be right back. . "nightline" will be right back.

thanks for joining us. tonight ukraine's president zelenskyy calling russia's attacks genocide. warning that the body count is likely to grow as ukrainian forces move back into kyiv's now decimated suburbs. after horrific images surfaced, president biden today mincing no words, calling vladimir putin a war criminal. and we warn you. some of the images you're to be see are disturbing. here is correspondent james longman on the scene outside kyiv. james? >> take a look. this is bucha. and this entire column of russian vehicles, tanks is completely destroyed by the ukrainians. authorities here telling us more than 400 people were killed. streets littered with bodies. civilians look to have been executed in the streets. this man hands bound behind his back. another appears to have been shot while riding his bicycle.

this a small bag of groceries beside another victim. as terrible as these images are, what we were shown next, even worse. in the basement of this building in which russian forces looked to have squatted for weeks. i'm looking at one, two, three, four, five bodies in this tiny room in this basement where ukrainians say people have been tortured. and i can see their hands behind their backs. it is truly an apocalyptic scene. it's absolutely horrific in here. this is what ukraine says is happening across this country. >> reporter: tatiana says russian soldiers broke into her home and dragged her and her husband out. her husband disappeared for two weeks. she says she found his body in a basement. he had been shot in the head, mutilated, tortured, she says. he was buried a meter deep so the dogs wouldn't get him. we've been brought to an area just outside of bucha.

this is in the kyiv region, a collection of towns and villages that the russians have moved out of. and authorities have brought us to what looks like the grave, the hastily dug grave of what they say is the family of the local mayor here. they didn't agree to cooperate with the russians, they say, so they were executed. >> reporter: the mayor was tortured, her arms and fingers broken, her husband and young son allegedly kidnapped by russian soldiers more than two weeks ago. their bodies still lying in this pit because officials suspect mines were buried nearby. today after learning about the horrors of bucha, president biden vowed more sanctions for russia, saying putin should be tried for war crimes. >> he is a war crime. this guy is brutal. and what is happening in bucha is outrageous, and everyone has seen it. >> reporter: in bucha tonight, the one sight residents welcome. ukrainian forces back in control of their streets. this officer saying if something

is needed, come to us. and that woman answering "thank you, thank you." >> reporter: russia has responded to these images. they've called them fake. they say they're all staged. but i can tell you, juju, that there was nothing staged what we saw today. the pentagon is now warning that this war looks like it could go on for some time and say now that russia is regrouping and resupplying and heading east. juju? >> james, thank you. now our other top story, the eruption of gun violence here at home. this weekend several shootings across the country leaving at least seven people dead and highlighting the epidemic that's invaded our streets. here is abc's zohreen shah. >> sergio was full of life, happy-go-lucky, always there to help somebody. >> reporter: this weekend pamela harris got the call no mother ever wants to receive. >> i just jumped straight up and

said what's wrong? i know somebody is hurt. >> her 38-year-old son sergio harris, a father of three children, was among the six killed in the mass shooting that took place in sacramento, california early sunday morning. 12 others were injured. >> they are very close to their father. this man used to go take them to school, drop them off, pick them up. those were his pride and joy. >> three walking gunshot wound victims. >> i copy that. moving units over there. >> reporter: just after 2:00 a.m., gunshots rang out after a large fight in front of a row of nightclubs. officers on duty in the area quickly racing towards the scene, providing medical aid and calling for backup. >> he fell down, hit his head. he is bleeding profusely. >> reporter: authorities say they recovered 100 expended shell casings and at least one stolen handgun from the scene. a second handgun retrieved at a residence overnight. and tonight 26-year-old dandrae

martin is behind bars as a related suspect. >> we are certainly looking into his role into this shooting and his involvement as well. we are searching for multiple suspects, and that is our priority. >> reporter: there was a stolen handgun recovered at this scene. was that his, and what else can you tell us about that handgun? >> so we did find a stolen handgun at the scene. we are trying to associate that handgun with this incident. how it's involved, we are still working on those details. >> reporter: this tragedy part of a startling rise in gun violence that echoes around the country. in dallas, texas, at least 16 were shot and one killed when gunshots rang out during a concert. >> people just running, running, running from all sorts of ways. >> reporter: in norfolk, virginia, a woman was killed during a shooting at a local mall. two others were hospitalized. >> since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been a significant increase in violence, particularly community gun violence.

in 2020, there was a 29% increase in homicide from the previous year. in 2021 we saw a 5% increase in homicide. >> reporter: thomas apt, a senior fellow at the council on criminal justice says several factors could be playing a role in the rise, including the pandemic, social unrest in the wake of the george floyd murder, and guns. >> there is a massive surge in legal gun sales at the beginning of the pandemic. and that continued through 2021. and unfortunately, what we've seen is that a larger share of those weapons, those legally purchased weapons got into the hands of criminals more quickly than before. the pandemic has placed the individuals at the highest risk for gun violence, both as perpetrators and victims under enormous pressure. while at the same time, putting -- placing strain on the institutions that are responsible for responding to gun violence.

>> reporter: after this weekend's shooting in sacramento, president biden urging action from congress. >> i think it's understandable that many americans see this as sort of a chronic issue. the first thing is to identify where the violence concentrates and then to engage the people in places that are disproportionately driving that violence with a balanced portfolio of law enforcement and nonlaw enforcement strategies. and then to follow up and always keeping the community involved and engaged. >> reporter: states like california are known to already have one of the strictest gun laws in the country. >> i think the one thing that we can do in this state is we can be better about enforcing the existing laws that we have that says guns are note supposed to be in the hands of the wrong types of people. >> reporter: jared bergeron was a san bernardino police chief

during an attempted bombing that killed 14 people. he notes the key to reducing crime is different, depending on the type of violence a community is facing. >> there is no one size fits all solution to how we're going fix it. but one big piece, and i think we have to be serious about this, we have to be tired of this discussion of an arrest was made, and oh, by the way, the shooter has an extensive criminal history. we don't seem to do a very effective job at either keeping the guns out of the hands of people that we said should not have them. just enforce it. >> reporter: in sacramento tonight, a vigil for the lives lost, the names of the victims revealed. the youngest yamile martinez-andrade had just turned 21. sergio harris and his cousin, 29-year-old devazia turner. johntaya alexander, melinda davis, and josh hoy-luchessi

were also killed. a community left reeling, now marked by the stain of gun violence forever. >> our thanks to zohreen. up next, selena gomez using her platform to try to normalize struggles with mental health. u her platform to try looking to get back in your type 2 diabetes zone? once-weekly ozempic® can help. ♪ oh, oh, oh, ozempic®! ♪ ♪ oh, oh, oh ♪ ozempic® is proven to lower a1c. most people who took ozempic® reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. and you may lose weight. adults lost on average up to 12 pounds. in adults also with known heart disease, ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke, or death. ozempic® helped me get back in my type 2 diabetes zone. ozempic® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't share needles or pens, or reuse needles. don't take ozempic® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer,

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entrepreneur is hoping others can reach the good place she's fought so hard to get to. >> i started to have a relationship with myself. and that's the best part. like i've probably been the happiest i've ever been. >> reporter: selena gomez at the top of her game, fresh off a grammy nomination. ♪ for her latin pop album revalicion. she has dominated music charts with hits like "lose you to love me." >> i needed to lose you to love me. >> reporter: just last week, wrapping up the second season of her hit show "only murders in the building". >> hey, who is cooler than me? >> everyone. >> reporter: it may look effortless, but selena has been candid about the struggles she has faced as a child star. >> growing up in the spotlight has definitely taught me so much. there are moments that i completely skipped out on.

and the moment you get -- i hate this word -- famous, you kind of stay in that age range. >> reporter: her mental health crises often on full display, revealing to miley cyrus on instagram just last year of her bipolar diagnosis. >> when i go to know more information, it actually helps me. it doesn't scare me once i know it. >> you talked, selena, you now live with bipolar, and you don't suffer from it as much anymore. how did you go about learning how to live with bipolar as opposed to suffering from it? >> well, i do the necessary things, you know. i see a therapist, and i have tons of work books, like a nerd. i write music. try to take what's going on and turn it into something beautiful in the best way that i can. >> reporter: now selena is hoping to channel her mental health battles into something beautiful, teaming up with her

own mother, mandy teefey and 26-year-old entrepreneur daniella pierson. all three have dealt with their own mental health issues and are trying to break the stigma and provide resources to subscribers free of charge. together they're launching a multimedia company, wondermind. featuring everything from newsletters to podcasts and conversations with celebrities. >> i know that your twin goals are to destigmatize and democratize. what does that mean to you? >> i think it means how the public perceives what a mental illness and mental health actually is. why do we have to have negative connotations along with something that is just as important about your health as anything else. >> if you work on your body, you know, every day, that's so important, why isn't your mental health just as important? we're also amplifying these incredible professionals that charge thousands of dollars an hour and being able to bring

their information to the masses, to the people who can't afford that. that's really the democratizing part. >> reporter: the three bonded during the pandemic when daniella, featured on forbes' 30 under 30 reached out to selena and mandy for an interview on mental health for her popular newsletter the newsette. >> i got on the zoom with them during the pandemic. they were so open and honest and vulnerable and real with me that they ended up being the fourth and fifth people that i ever told in my entire life that i had ocd. >> reporter: daniella had been suffering in silence with ocd for years, afraid to speak out because of the stigma. >> before that moment, i literally would have rather died, and i'm not saying that in a sarcastic way. i would have rather not been on this earth than anybody know i had ocd. you can imagine how lonely that feels. >> reporter: that epidemic of loneliness only amplified by the pandemic. a survey in june 2020 finding that 25% of adults aged 18 to 24 thought about suicide.

mandy says that she too struggled from an early age with thoughts of self-harm. >> i was 7 the first time i attempted suicide. not coming from a community that actually would discuss that, i felt a little isolated. >> reporter: her own pain driving mandy to help launch the hit netflix show "13 reasons why" which she executive produced alongside her daughter. >> i'm about to tell you the story of my life. >> reporter: the controversial drama came under fire for depictions of teenaged suicide, but they say it shined a light into the darkness. >> i knew it was a needed story, and i knew that these kids were just begging for this conversation to happen. >> it was during the making of the series that you discovered your own mental health issues. >> i was diagnosed originally with bipolar, but then they ran all the proper testing, i had adhd with trauma. >> reporter: the wondermind team is hoping to share the tips and tricks they learned from their own therapy sessions.

seemingly small exercises known as dialectical behavior therapy, or dbt. >> whenever you're feeling upset or overwhelmed with someone, you blow up a balloon and you draw their face on it and you pop it. it kind of releases it a little bit. >> i'm laughing because it's my mom, and i've seen it happen. these things are really silly, and i want people to know that i understand that. but there is power when you put truth in it. >> i love the rare reminders that i read about with your sticky notes. >> it can be quotes. it can be something that i need to validate my feelings with, maybe something along the lines of like today you are enough. i'll put it visually somewhere, and i'll keep there it until that's like in my mind. >> reporter: those reminders a much needed anchor for the star who famously quit instagram when she was the most followed person on the planet. the overwhelming scrutiny something she still avoids by

having her team post her social media. >> i haven't been in the air in 4 1/2 years. >> reporter: and so what does that do to detox your life? >> it has changed my life completely. i am happier. i am more present. >> reporter: studies repeatedly link the extended use of social media with mental health problems like anxiety and depression. as a mom watching your daughter struggle through this mental health episode, what advice do you give to other moms? >> just do the work alongside the child. that's going make me cry. learn how to speak to them in the way that they're needing to be spoken to. love them the way they need to be loved. >> reporter: selena, now a grown-up, continues to grow in front of our eyes. how do you feel as you're entering your almost 30th birthday as a young woman? >> i couldn't be more thrilled to step into this chapter alone, independently, strong,

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and finally tonight, the grammys paid tribute to the people of ukraine with a performance of john legend's new song "free."

♪ free to rain down until we're all free ♪ >> as well as a surprise remote message from ukraine's president. >> fill the silence with your music. fill it today to tell our story. tell the truth about the war on your social networks, on tv support us. in any way you can, but not silence. and then peace will come. >> and that's "nightline" for tonight. you can watch all of our full episodes on hulu. we'll see you right back here same time tomorrow. thanks for staying up with us. good night, amer