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Prospect Hts. dedicates new shooting range in memory of officer

The Prospect Heights Police Department's first gun range was dedicated Tuesday in memory of the department's first range officer, the late Donald Ficarrotta, who died in 2015 after a battle with Huntington's disease.

Ficarrotta was among the original 17 officers hired for the city's police force and served with the department for nine years before he was diagnosed with Huntington's disease in 1999 and forced to retire.

Ficarrotta also served in the Marine Corps where he was a drill sergeant and a paratrooper.

The new gun range is at the Prospect Heights Public Works Yard, and is rifle-rated with 100 percent ballistic containment. It is also equipped with dimmable lighting and police strobe lights for training, an overhead target retrieval system and a heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system with High-Efficiency Particulate Arrest filtration.

Money for the range came from the police department's participation in a federal narcotics task force. Officials say having a gun range in the city will allow officers to train while working their regularly scheduled shifts instead of traveling to neighboring departments for practice.

Members of Ficarrotta's family, including his daughter and sister, attended Tuesday's range dedication.

Community mourns former Prospect Hts. officer

  Prospect Heights Police Department's first range officer, the late Donald Ficarrotta, died after a battle with Huntington's disease. The department's new gun range was dedicated in his memory Tuesday. Bob Chwedyk/bchwedyk@dailyherald.com
  Prospect Heights Police Chief Alan Steffen, right, presents a plaque to the late Donald Ficarrotta's daughter, Tina Ficarrotta of Roselle, during the naming of the new gun range. Bob Chwedyk/bchwedyk@dailyherald.com
  Range instructor Cpl. Scott Minniear inspects Prospect Heights Police Department's new gun range, which was dedicated Tuesday in the memory of the department's first range officer, the late Donald Ficarrotta. Bob Chwedyk/bchwedyk@dailyherald.com
  The late Donald Ficarrotta's sister, Diana Janes, left, of Maple Park, and his daughter, Tina Ficarrotta of Roselle, hold plaques presented to them by the Prospect Heights Police Department during the dedication of the department's new gun range. Bob Chwedyk/bchwedyk@dailyherald.com
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