we'll show you what passengers went through. atattacked in a depepartment store bathroom. a 6-year-old girlrl is recovering from that violent attacack insnside a toilet stall att the country side small macy's store. security cameras caught pictures of a guy clearwater police want toto talk to. tonight they are stepping up efforts to find that man who barged into the stall friday night, pushed the girll to the floor and put his hand to her mouth. she screamed, he ran off. news channel 8's peter bernard is at the mall with a warning for parents. >> reporter: it's a crime that makes parents shiver and i k know many out there have b been through this before, you can feel it. i have myself. you takeke a small child to the restroom but do take a boy to a women's room and vice versa? still shots from security cameras show a man in a plaid shirt at the macy's country side mall around eigight friday night. they also show two women, one pushing a stroller.

spoke to them so they may know who he is. the crime has parents concerned. >> it's s scary that anybody can be waiting in the bathroom, for anyone, doesn't have to be a small child. my children don't go into any restrooms without me or my husbanand. doesn't matter r whether they're male or femalee restroomsms, we go together. >> reporter: cops are reminding parents about restroom safety with small children. >> if families have an option, if there's a w women's restroom, a a men's restroomm and a family restroom, use the family restroom when you have a child that age. >> i go with her every time. >> reporter: never? >> never. never. >> reporter: besides the son, sarah rose has a 6-year-old daughter, the same age as the little girl attacked in this restroom. >> no matter should let theheir themselves. >> reporter: in the macy's attack, the girl's father was close to the restroom.

the attacker was h hiding inside. their advice -- >> say you're sendiding a 6-yearar-old into the women's restroom, watch the door as she goes in and make sure there's not somebody already in there. >> reporter: police worked through the weekend and met this morning, detecectives did, to lay out what they have so far, including leads. jen. >> peter, do you know how the little girl is doing? obviously mentally it's disisturbing but how is she doing otherwise? >> reporter: she's doioing well. her father is proud of her. especially for her, she screamed. and shehe said she just wants to guy caught so he doesn't do it to somebody else. >> thank you, peter. now, it has been a rough couple of days foror senator marco rubio of florida. he got beat up saturday night

all day today and yesterday he's been defending himself. candace mccowan is joining us live from new hampshire. let's start with senator rubio here. some are describing his debate perfrformance as robotic. how is he s spinning that on his last full day of campaigning in new hampshire? >> reporter: he's not talking about it too much but he said he meant what he said and he will continue to say it. we're waiting out side the trump event for t the police to sweep all the materials before we can inside. former governor jeb bush was very vocal about why he should be president and not mararco rubio. marco rubio started early this morning at a town hall trying to remind voters he has the experience needed. but he wasn't answering questions.

talking about your experience in the florida house. rubio didn't stop to respond what former governor jeb bush told me at bush's town haul. we're all comparing you and marco rubio, why you? >> because i'm a proven leader. that's why all the speakers before me, before marco and those after him, all of them but one are supporting me. >> reporter: bush supporters flying up from florida. >> when it comes down to the record of these two men, i cacannot in good conscious sayay that marco rubio's record makes himm more prepared to be president than jeb bush >> let's stop once and for all with this fifiction that barack obama doesn't k know what he's doing. i would adddd this, let's dispel with the fiction that barack obama doesn't know what he's doing. >> reporter: the senator's opponents still harping on it

>> then he made it a second time and that was sort of fine. but then the third time and fourth time and fifth time, i'm saying, am i hearing things? what's going on over here? >> again, that donald t trump rally coming up in a few hours. we've lost candace for a moment but shshe was telling us that rubio said in his camampaign events all day today and yesterday he meant to repeat that line because he truly believes that line. tonight he's going to appear one-on-one with "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. he said he had one of t the biggest fundraising nights after that debate everyone is criticizing him about and he'll continue to repeat what we hear in that d debate a again and again. our newew hampshire race coverage with candadace will continue tomorrow night when the votes are finally counted. president obama i is asking congress for $1.8 billion to help fight the zika virus. thee administration wants the moneyy for emergency response in

the virus has sprpread to at least 29 countries. the world health organization calling it a public health emergency. officials are urging all pregnant women returning from otother countries to get tested. canada is changing the way it fights militants. the country is ending air strikes against the militants. it will shift to a moree humanitarian effort. 69 canadian special trainer forces are being deployed to help assist troops on the ground. >> the cananadian armed forces will be allocating resources to training iraqi security f forces. we'll be supporting and empowering local forces to take their fight d direct lip to isil to kilometer b by kilometer they can reclaim theheir homes, their land and their future. >> the ongoing canadian mission

be extended until the end of march 2017. it was a difficult night for passengers aboard is cruise ship heheaded for florida. a storm rocked the royal caribbean's anthem of the seaeas for nearly 12 hours. natalie morales shows us what everybody on b board had to endure. >> the waves are 25 feet talall. >> reporter: high anxietyty on the high seas sunday as a royal caribbbbean cruise ship hit rough watersrs off the coast of the carolinas. >> 75 mile an hour winds. >> reporter: officials say the anthem of the seas making its way south on a week-long trip from new york to the bahamas ran into s severe weather, forcing the crew to change course and head to port canaveral, flolorida. royal caribbean releasing a statement this morning, in an abundance of caution, the captain asked all guests to stay in their state room u until the weather improved.

show their experiences riding out the storm shot video and photos of toppled furniture and other minor damage. the coast guard released a statement overnight saying nervous relatives begegan calling about relatives onn board but the ship was not in n need of assistance. we will continue to maintain communication with the ship and ensure that t the anthemm of the seseas gets to port safely. passengers confined to their cabins were eager to share their fears and frustration, one tweeting don't think i ever missed land this much. another says, i wish i took thosose swimming lessons. >> thehe ship is turning aroround and sailing back to its home port in new jersey at this hour. a u.s. army soldier had to be r rescued after his parachute got tangled in power lines. the soldier wasas making a jump at the deland municicipal airport. strong windsds blew him off course and the power l lines grarabbed the chute. rescscue crews cut off the power and manageded to get himim dowown

he was not h hurt and the power was restored a short time later. >> wow. >> scary. well, theyy want to help abandoned pets but they're overwhelmed. >> our 8 on your side investigation discovered pets being turned away from hillsborough county pet resources. why animal rescue workers are left to pick up the slack. the temperatures have been much cooler. might as well get used to it. they're going to stick around. we'll talk about the long-range chilly forecast coming up. >> first responders at mcdill prepare for air fest and an

a lucky break for a shelter dog who waited six years to be adopted. right now rufus is with a family, the dog's original owners wrote a letter praying someone would adopt him, and thanks to our story, someone did. carolyn called the shelter and took rufus home. >> he's ten and a half, and you know for people that are my age, 63, i have ten good years, maybe longer, but i have enough time to offer him really some good quality of life. >> rufus is fitting in nicely atat the duffy home. he has a large yard and nice

if you or someone you know is looking for a job, listen to this. at&t is hiring. they need nearly 80 employees to fill call center and retail position, mostly newly created cacall center jobs. necessary. for more experiencece head to wfla.com. florida lawmakers heard legislation prohibiting discrimination to gay and transgender people today. smith of equality florida calls the legislation historic. now, an 8 on your side investigation, abandoned again. >> pet, shunned by their owners, and again by hillsborough county pet resources. where are the animals ending up? sadly many on the street,

caseses suffering. >> the lucky ones get into a pet rescue organization, but with the county taking fewer stray, the rescue centers are overcrcrowded. >> yes, the rescuers are inundated with strarays and abandoned animal, feeling the crush because they claim they're doing pet resources' job. >> reporter: her name is cupid. a stray found a year ago, she e ended up with the second chance boxer rescue. >> once again we were struck, , the finder called the shelter, saying we don't take strays after noon. she ended up in a vet clininic, and we were called. >> rereporter: she had a gaping wound when a rope was embedded around her neck. >> she neneeded medical care, so we hospitalizized her at our experience, and started getting her fixed up.

hihillsborough county animal advisory committee.e. >> unfortunatelely the rescues are doing a lot of job pet resource centers should be doing. >> reporter: second chance boxer rescue has 40 to 45 dogs in foster home, mostly strays. bill and other rescues claim it will pet resource centerer makes it difficult to drop off strays. >> >. they reduced intake drastically at the shelter. they're just not letting ththem in. >> reporter: this e-mail sent after the reports started aiairing, says the county is expanding intake hours. you've had complaints? >> a lot ofof this em, many of -- them, many of them after your story, have come after the story and we've taken that to heart. >> reporter: even vets experienced difficulty getting the county to rerespond, and while the live release rate is climbingng dramatically, the intake of strays is down by the >> the animals are still out

street, and our phones are ringing. >> repeporter: cupid now has a permanent loving home, and she's one lucky dog. >> in two years the county has taken in 8,000 less animals, claiming part of reason isis specialilization programs are -- sterilization programs are working, and pet resources has several animal control officers are extended leave. >> well, in fairness then, doesn't fewer people working mean fewer animals impounded? >> yes, about 400 animals per year per officer, so that's down, and gotten some criticism about the story, i'm not saying pet resources is doing g a bad job, i'm saying they could do a better job, and so does the county.

if you're standing on the beach at clearwater, littlele chilly. strong westerly wind contntinuing to be strong tomorrow as a cold front rolls through the area, and you get the idea here, partly cloudy, no numbers though, sorry about that. the current temperature south winds, southwest, we're in a cool atmosphere, and tomorrow a northwest wind behind aid cold front t into the area, so that's going to bring more cooler temperatures. for the evening though, a mix of clear skies and some high clouds, esespecially extra clouds as the front slides in later, and then tomorrow morning a mix of sunshine and clouds, breezy and cool, keeping upup across the area, and tomorrow afternoon, 57, more clouds around, windy and chilly, coming off the gulf ofof mexico with that wind switched to ththe northwest, that's the clouds dragging across the state, gray looking at times, but just a slight chance of rain at 10 percent.

average line. there's the line, back in december remember we were boxer rescue the line, now well -- above the line, now well below it. 59 at 9:00 p.m. the slight rain chance through this period, not a great chance, but a small chance into the overnight, and chilly 5050 degrees, little below normal given the time of year looking at the averages. mostly 60s, 64 sun city center, lakeland 63 within two or three degree, fairly flat with the temperatures, but the windnds strong, and primarily southwest ahead of the front. strong gusts, 28-mile per hour gusts in st. petersburg, 28 in cleaearwater. cold front back to the northwest with high sitting her, and the -- pressure sitting here, and about 200 knots moving across the e northern part of state.

this is extra fast, evenen for winterer, dragging the high clouds across the sky, and few clouds associated with more substantial cloudiness across the northern part of state, maybe a slight chance of a sprinkle. freeze warnings, the interior part of the county, citrus county. the forecast model times the cold front, you can see for the evening hour, and races it through tomorrow morning, so sprinkle possible with windy conditions largely driviven by the strong northwest flflow into the area. very typical when a cold front moves through the area, just keeps it cool. the clouds linger, and patches of clearer skies in here, especially later in the day, but partly cloudy skies, really mostly cloudy throughout the day. chilly. wednesesday morning, same, some morning clouds, jackets to start the day, and maybe more sunshine in the afternoon. windy. 57 for a high temperature. 58 for wednesday, 60 for thursday. i know your eyes are searching for warmer numbers, but they're

very unusual to get a a long stretch of cocooler air, not very typical. the area of high pressure is shifting to the east, but even valentine's day a cool one. >> i wonder how we can warm ourselves up. > i'm going to go ahead and go to another story. >> it's heart day. a fefeature meant to help is causing potentially deadly problems. . >> these issues have someme drivers running into where they try to park their fiats.

(donkey sound) there's a big difference between making noise, (tapping sound) and making sense. (elephant sound) (donkey sound) when it comes to social security, we need more than lip service. our next president needs a real plan to keep social secucurity strong. (elephant noise) hey candidates. enough talk.

ba da ba ba ba now w to an 8 on your site

people can't figure out how to shift fiats into park, and itit's causing dangerous problems. . a badly designed electronic shifter that has led to more than 100 crashes, basically drivers think they're putting the vehicle into park, but it's actually still in gearar. when they get out the vehicleses rolls away. federal investigators are working to figure out how to fix the problem. toyota stopped assembling scars at -- cars at all plants in japan after an explosion last month that's interrupted the supply of vehicle parts. toyota will shut down the lines from february 8th, today, to the 16th at 61 domestic plplants. and every chipotle restaurant closed for lunch today, lasting for four hours where employees attended a company-wide meeting on food safety. this comes after an e coli

they reopened at 3:00 this afternoon. all riright, bringing it back to valentine's day. americans are expected to spend 20 billion dollars this valentine's day. according to the national retail federation, the avererage person will spend about $150 on giftfts for their special (not bad, so what's -- someone? nod bad. so what's the mostst wanted gift? >> reporter: candy? flowers? jewelry? dinner? or all of the above? >> i'd like to have all of the above. >> i'm not expecting anything too extravagant, probably just dinner. >> >. and even pets feel it will love this sunday, survey found one in five people will buy a valelentine's day present for their loved animal. >> interesting. >> i guess give it a little toy

>> bad for r animals. >> dogs especially. >> and some seserious stuff coming up at 5:30? >> yes, fatal shooting at a tampa bay strip club caught on camera, and the search for the killer is on goining, and the annual air fast, how the base