Series: Meth: Shattering Lives In Northern Nevada

A three-month Reno Gazette-Journal investigation found that
methamphetamine's grip on the Truckee Meadows has become a stranglehold.

"I FEEL BAD ABOUT SHOOTING THE OFFICER..."

Adolfo Benny Carreras is 24 and has a 4-year-old daughter.

Life before his long-standing methamphetamine addiction was spent in
arcades with friends, cruising around town on Friday nights and bowling.

But Carreras will be spending at least the next 20 years in prison
for shooting a Reno police officer in the face during a downtown gun
battle. He said he had been on a 46-day methamphetamine and cocaine binge.

Carreras pleaded guilty to attempted murder and was sentenced in
April to 50 years in prison. He'll be eligible for parole in about 20 years.

Carreras himself almost died that August night as Officer Al Del
Vecchio, a 16-year law enforcement veteran, and his rookie partner,
Justin Bradley, returned fire multiple times, striking him a few
times in the head.

While imprisoned at the Washoe County Jail, he learned how to walk,
eat and write again. His left eye is still damaged after one of the
bullets lodged in his brain. He said a "chunk" of his brain had to be
removed. His hair barely covers the large scar caused by his brain surgery.

He knows he won't be seeing his daughter any time soon.

"I blame meth for everything," he said during a February jail interview.

Carreras said he is remorseful for shooting Officer Del Vecchio and
wants to serve as an example to kids about how meth will ruin their lives.

Del Vecchio is back on the beat and has recovered from his injury. To
look at him, you would never know he was shot in the face. Del
Vecchio said during Carreras' sentencing hearing that he personally
holds nothing against Carreras, but believes he is a dangerous
criminal who is a threat to the citizens of Nevada. He said he has no
doubt that Carreras intended to kill him when he pulled the trigger.

"I feel bad about shooting the officer," Carreras said. "... He was
just a man doing his job. I think about it everyday ... The reasons
why addicts do what we do is to rid of reality. On meth, there is no
reality and what you do is on your own terms."

Del Vecchio said during the sentencing hearing that meth is not a
good enough excuse.

"Any excuses that methamphetamine addiction or a failed childhood
might be responsible for his actions are unacceptable," he said.

Carreras said he does not remember the shooting, but knows he would
not be shot for no reason, or jailed if he didn't deserve to be.

"If I could take it back and never do meth, I would never touch it,"
he said. "I've never had hatred for anything before this. I have a
hatred for meth."

At the time of the shooting, Carreras said he had been partying with
a man and a female friend when he took the man's new pickup. He said
all three had been heavily into meth. The man reported his truck
stolen when Carreras had not returned it after a few days.

About 5 a.m. on Aug. 21 in downtown Reno, the officers were
investigating a battery at a bar when they recognized the stolen
pickup paused at a stoplight. They asked Carreras to get out of the
car, and he would not. He yelled he did not want to go to jail. The
four-time felon had warrants for his arrest.

Police said Carreras grabbed a gun from the center console and shot
Del Vecchio. The bullet struck him near his nose and exited near an ear.

Carreras has spent more than four years of his adult life in and out
of Nevada jails and prisons for crimes committed to feed his meth
habit, including stealing cars. He said he has sold meth to make a
living, and became a meth fiend so he could stay awake.

His daughter was born when he was in jail. He's mostly lived on the
streets when he wasn't incarcerated.

Using methamphetamine for the first time five years ago, Carreras
said he liked how it helped him stay awake; he didn't want to miss
out on anything. He said his father, imprisoned for robberies in
California, was a heroin addict who died of a drug overdose. He
injected meth through a needle to see "what my father thought was so
wonderful about it."

His addiction fueled when his best friend, also an addict, died of a
drug-related seizure in 2001 and when his daughter was taken away
from him. He said his mother now has custody of the girl whom he does
not want to see him while he's incarcerated.

Carreras said he is now mentally and spiritually stronger, and uses
the Bible and his faith in God to beat his addiction.

"I lost everything to meth," he said. "This sounds cheesy, but in the
DARE programs, it's a lot easier to say no than you think. There is
no glamour in using drugs.

"The six years I have been an adult, I've been locked up for more
than four," he said. "I've missed a lot."