In a dramatic courtroom appearance, a former Massachusetts police officer defended herself against serious accusations, claiming she never intended to harm her colleagues during a tense incident. The officer, Kelsey Fitzsimmons, now 29, is charged with assault with a deadly weapon stemming from an event that took place in June 2025.
Fitzsimmons, addressing the court on Wednesday, recounted the chaotic day when fellow officers attempted to serve her with a restraining order on behalf of her fiancé, Justin Aylaian, a firefighter aged 32. She testified that her aim was not to threaten others but to turn the gun on herself, as her personal life was unraveling rapidly.
During the incident, North Andover Police officer Pat Noonan discharged his weapon, striking Fitzsimmons after she allegedly raised her service firearm towards the officers. Fitzsimmons, however, maintains that her actions were misunderstood and that she harbored no intention of shooting anyone else.
Her testimony painted a picture of a life in disarray, where she feared losing not only her fiancé and their home but most critically, her four-month-old son. Her voice trembled with emotion as she told the jury, “I saw my baby go, my fiancé, my dog, my house, and I knew that it was going to be my job, too,” reports Boston.com.
‘I saw my baby go, my fiancé, my dog, my house, and I knew that it was going to be my job, too,’ she said in her testimony as she grew visibly emotional, per Boston.com.
Fitzsimmons, who was on maternity leave from the police department, said she was blindsided by Aylaian’s decision to leave her and only ‘realized our relationship was over when a restraining order was handed to me.’
But the couple’s relationship had been deteriorating and hit a low point in June, after they attended a boozy joint bachelor and bachelorette party in Maine where they both accused each other of drinking to excess.
Former Massachusetts cop Kelsey Fitzsimmons, 29, took the stand in her own defense on Wednesday, saying her life was spiraling out of control when she allegedly pointed a gun at her colleagues, which she denies
The chaotic episode unfolded in June 2025, when Fitzsimmons’ firefighter fiancé Justin Aylaian served her with a restraining order and alleged that she had threatened him and their four-month-old son
Fitzsimmons told the court that they had a bitter argument about caring for their son while she did CPR training just hours before she was served.
Fitzsimmons said Aylaian did not want to pick up their baby which forced her to take him with her.
She testified that while driving home, she saw her fiancé’s truck outside a friend’s property surrounded by other vehicles she recognized from the bachelor/bachelorette party which roused her suspicions.
She claimed that she then realized her phone number had been blocked by Aylaian. One of his friends allegedly tried to reassure her the vehicles she saw were only gathered at the property to pick up items left behind from a party.
She said she knew ‘something was going on’, and parked in a school parking lot near her home so he would not know she was home in case Aylaian came back.
Soon after Noonan and two other officers arrived at her home.
In her testimony, she admitted that she lied to the officers about where her service weapon was when they showed up at her home to serve her with the document.
She said she intended to use the gun to kill herself, testifying: ‘I made that decision as I realized I had just lost everything in a 15-second conversation with my coworker.’
Her testimony came the day after Noonan took to the stand to claim that he was forced to shoot her because he feared she was trying to kill her fiancé.
Fitzsimmons was seen flashing a filthy look in court as her former colleague testified that he was forced to shoot her because he feared she was trying to kill her fiancé
Pat Noonan, pictured, is the police officer who shot Kelsey Fitzsimmons during the fiery confrontation with her ex-fiancé, a court was told
Fitzsimmons stared down her former North Andover Police colleague in court as he testified.
Noonan told the court: ‘I think I was standing in her way for her to get downstairs and kill Justin.’
Fitzsimmons was seen at that moment staring at Noonan, before turning to her attorney and appearing to mouth the word, ‘What?’
Fitzsimmons was hit in the chest by Noonan after she allegedly drew her weapon, and was hospitalized for weeks with a collapsed lung. She was charged with assault when she was released.
Noonan alleged that Fitzsimmons pointed her service weapon at him and pulled the trigger, but said it made a ‘click’ noise because the gun was jammed.
He said he had no choice but to shoot her because she then ‘tap racked’ the gun, a move to clear a jam that feeds a bullet into the chamber.
In cross examination of Noonan, Fitzsimmons’ attorney Timothy Bradl argued that the police officer did not need to shoot her in the chest and alleged he used excessive force.
Bradl claimed that Fitzsimmons lifted the gun in an attempt to shoot herself in the head, saying she was going through a mental health crisis and feared losing custody of her son.
Fitzsimmons’s attorney argued that she never intended to shoot her police colleagues and only wanted to shoot herself during the confrontation
Prosecutors alleged that Fitzsimmons lied about where her service weapon was during the incident, alleging that she abruptly grabbed it and pointed it at officers. She claims she only intended to shoot herself
He accused Noonan of unnecessarily shooting her, saying: ‘You know it’s prohibited for someone to use deadly force on someone who is only exhibiting harm to themselves?’
Noonan, a SWAT team trained cop, responded: ‘Absolutely.’
Asked why he didn’t tase her instead, Noonan said: ‘We meet deadly force with deadly force.’
In her own testimony, Fitzsimmons said she tried to move Noonan into another room before shooting herself, saying she ‘knew if I pulled out my firearm in front of a police officer, I would get shot.’
‘I’m not dumb, I was a police officer. If someone takes out a gun in front of you, yes, that’s a threat, yes, that’s somebody that you probably feel threatened from,’ she said.
‘Even looking back now, reflecting for nine months, I think my decision to do it to myself was selfish to everybody who loves me,’ she said. ‘I wanted to kill myself. Me and my gun. No one else involved.’
Bradl said Fitzsimmons was suffering from postpartum depression and was on maternity leave during the shooting incident. He said her life ‘imploded’ when Aylaian filed a restraining order against her.
Aylaian, a local firefighter in North Andover, Massachusetts, previously alleged that Fitzsimmons threatened him and their newborn.
The former police officer was shot in the chest during the incident and suffered a collapsed lung
He previously testified in her trial on Monday, saying that he decided to move out of their home and try to gain full custody of their son over fears that she may harm herself or their family.
The first witness in the trial on Monday was North Andover Police Lt. Sean Daley, who testified that he joined Aylaian and two other officers to serve Fitzsimmons with the restraining order and waited outside while the others went inside.
Daley said he did not see Fitzsimmons bring out her weapon, but heard Noonan saying from inside the home, ‘Don’t do it Kelsey.’
He said he began running up the stairs and heard gunshots, then saw Fitzsimmons on the ground with a gunshot wound.
He said she told the officers as she lay injured on the ground: ‘I’m sorry, I want to die.’
The crux of the trial rests on whether Fitzsimmons pulled her gun on herself or on the other officers, with Bradl arguing in his opening statements this week that the episode was a tragic suicide attempt.
He noted that officers were heard yelling ‘Kelsey, no, Kelsey, no’, saying that ‘you don’t say that when you’re staring at the muzzle of a gun pointed at you. You say that to a person who has a gun to their head.’
‘And you don’t shoot someone in the chest when they are seeking clearly to only harm themselves,’ he added.
Fitzsimmons was a North Andover Police officer for just over a year before the shooting incident in June 2025. She was fired following the incident
Massachusetts does not have a state law requiring police departments to wear body cameras and the North Andover Police Department officers at the scene were not wearing cameras that would have shown the episode in Fitzsimmons’ home.
Bradl alleged that officer Noonan tried to ‘adjust the narrative’ after the shooting in order to protect himself and argued that he did not need to shoot Fitzsimmons in the chest.
He described Fitzsimmons as a panicking mother who thought her life was spiraling out of control as she faced losing custody of her child.
‘She made a decision for herself and it’s a decision that takes your breath away,’ Bradl said.
‘She decides to end her life with her firearm in her bedroom. She knows her firearm is in her bedroom, and she tells police something else.
‘She tells them the guns are in the basement, because she doesn’t want to involve them. The idea of harming them, the evidence will show, is ludicrous.
‘She’s trying to get them away from her.’
Prosecutors disputed Fitzsimmons’ version of the incident, claiming that the only reason it did not turn deadly was because there was no bullet in the chamber of her gun and because of Noonan’s SWAT team training.
Fitzsimmons said she was terrified of police taking her baby away from her
They said Noonan was with Fitzsimmons when she then went into her bedroom, and he ‘noticed that her demeanor changes and she gets upset, at that point she lunges to her right.’
The prosecutor alleged that she picked up her service weapon from in her bedroom, pointed it at the officers and pulled the trigger, but it did not fire.
He alleged that she then tried to rerack the gun and raised it up, leading Noonan to shoot at her twice. One missed her and the other hit her in the chest.
Fitzsimmons was a North Andover Police officer for just over a year before the shooting incident in June 2025. She was fired following the incident.
She requested a bench trial instead of facing a jury, meaning a judge will decide her fate. The judge in her trial expected that he would hear evidence and come to a verdict within a week.
