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Fitzsimmons was shot by a colleague last year. Fitzsimmons is charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. A bench trial is ongoing.
Kelsey Fitzsimmons appeared in court to waive her right to a jury trial. WCVB
The trial of Kelsey Fitzsimmons began in Essex County Superior Court Monday. Fitzsimmons is a North Andover police officer who was shot by a colleague last June as other officers attempted to serve her a restraining order.
The order had been granted to Justin Aylaian, Fitzsimmon’s then-fiancé and a North Andover firefighter. He and Fitzsimmons had a son in February 2025. Fitzsimmons has said that she struggled with postpartum depression after giving birth.
Fitzsimmons is accused of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. She says that she was shot by a colleague, officer Patrick Noonan, after attempting to kill herself with a gun. The prosecution says that she aimed a weapon at Noonan and attempted to shoot him, prompting him to fear for his life and fire at her. Fitzsimmons was hospitalized for more than 50 days after being shot in the chest.
Catch up on all the details of the case here.
On Monday, both sides gave opening statements before witnesses were called. The bench trial, overseen by Judge Jeffrey Karp, is scheduled to continue Tuesday.
Opening statement: prosecution
Assistant Essex District Attorney James Gubitose began his opening statement by focusing on Noonan, saying that there are two reasons the officer is alive today: the gun Fitzsimmons used did not have a round in the chamber when she pulled the trigger, and Noonan’s decades of experience caused him to react in a “calm and professional way” to protect himself and everyone else in the house at the time.
Gubitose described Noonan’s past experience, saying he had extensive training in the Air Force, on SWAT teams, and with the Lawrence Police Department and the North Andover Police Department. This experience, Gubitose said, is the reason Noonan was asked to help serve the restraining order to Fitzsimmons on June 30, 2025.
Gubitose outlined the concerns that Aylaian mentioned in the affidavit he filed when applying for the restraining order. After driving by the home and confirming that Fitzsimmons’s car was parked nearby, the three officers, Sean Daley, Timothy Houston, and Noonan met at a nearby school before proceeding to Fitzsimmons’s home.
At the home, the officers explained to Fitzsimmons that a hearing was scheduled for July where she would be able to tell her side of the story. When asked about the locations of any weapons in the house, Fitzsimmons lied to the officers and told them that all of the guns were in the basement, Gubitose said.
He described how officers followed Fitzsimmons around the house as she gathered items for her son. She tried to hand some of these items to the officers, who put them down in accordance with their professional protocols, Gubitose said.
Aylaian arrived at the home when Fitzsimmons was in her bedroom on the second floor with Noonan and Houston. Upon hearing him enter the house, she told Noonan and Houston that she did not want Aylaian near her, Gubitose said. Houston went downstairs to make sure that the two remained separated. The officer allowed Aylaian to go into the basement to retrieve a suitcase, he said.
Gubitose described the shooting. Noonan was standing on a landing on the second floor, watching Fitzsimmons gather items while on her knees in her bedroom. Noonan then noticed that Fitzsimmons’s demeanor changed. She got “upset,” lunged to her right, and grabbed her service weapon, Gubitose said. Fitzsimmons then pointed the gun at Noonan’s face and pulled the trigger. It clicked, but did not fire. Noonan then took out his gun and yelled “Kelsey, don’t do it” as he stepped backwards, the prosecutor said.
Fitzsimmons then attempted a “tap rack,” a method commonly used to clear firearm malfunctions. Noonan pleaded with her, trying to deescalate the situation, Gubitose said. But, Fitzsimmons then successfully loaded a round. Upon seeing her raise the weapon again, Noonan fired twice. Since Fitzsimmons was moving, the first round missed. The second struck her in the chest, the prosecutor said.
The gun that Fitzsimmons wielded was found underneath her, Gubitose said. It was placed on a nearby bed by Daley. He emphasized how Noonan, still focused on proper safety protocols, moved the gun further away from Fitzsimmons in the aftermath of the shooting. All “credible evidence” will show that Fitzsimmons raised her gun, aimed it at Noonan, and pulled the trigger, Gubitose concluded.
Opening statement: defense
Attorney Timothy Bradl delivered the opening statement for the defense. In his telling, Noonan realized he made a mistake in firing at Fitzsimmons and quickly framed the interaction as a form of self defense in an attempt to deflect blame.
“‘Kelsey no, Kelsey no.’ 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. And when you do that, you quickly realize, your honor, that you need to adjust the narrative to save yourself,” Bradl said.
He described how Fitzsimmons’s world “imploded” upon being served the restraining order. She stood in “humiliation” as she processed the various implications of the order, Bradl said. Fitzsimmons was processing the end of her engagement, the potential end of her career, and the potential loss of her child that day, the attorney said.
She made a decision to kill herself with a gun that was in her bedroom. According to Bradl, Fitzsimmons told the officers that all the guns were in the basement because she did not want them involved in her attempts to shoot herself. The idea of Fitzsimmons wanting to harm the other officers is “ludicrous,” and the evidence will show that she purposefully misled them in order to try to get them to leave her alone, according to Bradl. This is why she handed the officers items and asked them to bring them downstairs, he said.
Fitzsimmons pulled out her weapon when she believed Noonan was leaving her alone and going downstairs, Bradl said. Fitzsimmons saw Noonan as a friend and had no motivation to want to harm him, he said.
Fitzsimmons reached into a corner of her bedroom, grabbed a gun and carried it close to her stomach to an open part of the room, and raised it to her temple. Bradl emphasized that Noonan was not in the bedroom at the time. Noonan only saw Fitzsimmons with the gun to her head, posing no danger to anyone but herself, Bradl said.
Bradl described Noonan as being “flustered” upon seeing Fitzsimmons with the weapon. No police officer would try to bargain with someone who has a gun pointed at them, Bradl said. In saying “Kelsey no, Kelsey no,” Noonan was trying to tell her not to shoot herself.
Bradl also emphasized Noonan’s extensive training, saying this is evidence that shows he knew he was in trouble after the shooting and that he would need to “adjust the narrative.”
Fitzsimmons’s gun was found under her leg after the shooting, Bradl said. There is no physical way the gun could have ended up there if she was pointing it at Noonan, he said.
Bradl also said that Noonan missing the first shot he fired was evidence of his panicked state of mind.
Bradl questioned why no one from NAPD ever interviewed Fitzsimmons after the shooting, saying that Noonan was treated like the victim instead.
First witness: Sean Daley
Lieutenant Daley was the first witness to take the stand. Under questioning from Gubitose, Daley described how Aylaian came to the North Andover Police Station with a copy of the restraining order on June 30. Daley took Aylaian’s phone number, telling him to wait in the police station lobby until Daley called so that Aylaian could come and pick up his son.
Daley confirmed that Fitzsimmons had a service weapon issued to her at the time, and that other weapons were known to be at the house. He said that Houston and Noonan were both known to be “calm, cool, and collected,” which is why he chose them to accompany him to Fitzsimmons’s house to serve the restraining order. They met at the school near the house, where Daley told Houston and Noonan that they would have to facilitate the transfer of the child to Aylaian and take possession of any weapons in the house.
Daley confirmed that Fitzsimmons told the officers that all her weapons were in the basement. Daley said he explained to Fitzsimmons that he was going to call Aylaian in order to have him come get the baby. She was “agreeable” to this, but also called her mother to come by.
Daley said he accompanied Fitzsimmons around the house, including a moment when she went upstairs and looked around her bedroom before heading back downstairs. Daley spoke about Aylaian arriving at the home, and said that Houston left Noonan and Fitzsimmons alone upstairs. He did not hear anyone coming down the stairs after Houston.
Daley described hearing Noonan yell, followed by the gunshots, and running up the stairs. He found Noonan standing in the doorframe of the bedroom, with Fitzsimmons laying on the ground near her bed. He moved the gun to the bed, examined her wound, and began rendering aid, Daley said.
Fitzsimmons could be heard saying “I’m sorry and I want to die” over and over after being shot, Daley said.
Surveillance footage only exists showing the front porch entrance and the basement. Footage was played that showed activity from that evening, including the officers arriving at 4:49 p.m., and Fitzsimmons being carried out on a stretcher at 5:18 p.m.
Bradl cross-examined Daley, pressing him about why he didn’t contact the Department of Children and Families upon receiving Aylaian’s affidavit.
At one point during the interaction at the house before the shooting, Fitzsimmons handed her son to Noonan, and Noonan helped feed the baby. Daley said that no one forced Fitzsimmons to do this, and that it was something she did of her own accord.
Second witness: Courtney Aylaian
Justin Aylaian’s sister, Courtney Aylaian, testified next. She spoke about going to one of her brother’s friends’ houses on June 30, where some of Fitzsimmons’s friends had gathered as well because they were “very concerned” about her. She then described going to the courthouse with her brother to obtain the restraining order. Courtney Aylaian helped her brother fill out the form because he was visibly shaking, she said.
Courtney Aylaian also described accompanying her brother to the house after he was contacted by Daley. She spoke about how she was holding her nephew at the time of the shooting, outside the house. When she heard gunshots, she ran with the child away from the house and hid behind some trees. Her brother eventually picked her up, she said.
Third witness: Justin Aylaian
Aylaian described how he met Fitzsimmons in 2023 and how the two quickly began a serious relationship. Their son was born on Feb. 16, 2025.
Aylaian also described going to his friend’s house on June 30 with his sister and other friends of both himself and Fitzsimmons. The decision was made there that he would go obtain a restraining order, he said.
Aylaian was questioned extensively about the locations of various gun safes in the house. He confirmed that there was no gun safe in the basement. He described how he fled the house from the basement upon hearing the gunshots and picked up his sister.
Fourth witness: Patrick Noonan
Much of Noonan’s testimony to Gubitose was centered on his law enforcement background. He then described getting a call from Houston about serving the restraining order to Fitzsimmons on June 30. During the meeting with Daley and Houston beforehand, Daley said that he would “do the talking,” Noonan said.
Noonan spoke about Fitzsimmons handing her son off to him during the encounter. Noonan tried to calm the baby down briefly before handing the baby off to Daley, he said.
Noonan described accompanying Fitzsimmons up the stairs, where she asked him to bring items downstairs. He refused. After pointing out that some clothes were dirty in her bedroom, Fitzsimmons grew visibly upset, Noonan said. She started to shake, and Noonan told her that her court date was in just two weeks in an effort to reassure her that she would see her son soon.
Fitzsimmons then lunged behind a doorframe, reappeared with a gun, pointed it at Noonan’s face, and pulled the trigger, he said. Noonan spoke about how Fitzsimmons had the “tactical advantage” on him. After the gun failed to fire, Fitzsimmons backpeddled and tried to “tap rack” her weapon. She did this twice as Noonan yelled at her to stop and pulled out his gun, he said.
When Noonan saw that Fitzsimmons had successfully loaded a round in the chamber of her gun, her arm came back upwards and Noonan fired twice. Asked why he shot twice, Noonan said that “she wouldn’t stop” and that he did not know if the first bullet hit her.
Immediately after the shooting, Daley came up the stairs and asked where the gun was. Noonan told Daley that Fitzsimmons still had it. Daley rolled Fitzsimmons over, saw the gun, and put it on the nearby bed, he said. Noonan then moved the gun even further away, to the other side of the room, he added.
Noonan recalled Fitzsimmons saying “it hurts” after being shot. He told her “just keep breathing, you have a baby to live for,” he testified.
Noonan was not questioned by Fitzsimmons’s legal team on Monday.
Ross Cristantiello
Ross Cristantiello, a general assignment news reporter for Boston.com since 2022, covers local politics, crime, the environment, and more.
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