A Massachusetts judge recently acquitted a former police officer of attempting to shoot a fellow officer, following an emotional testimony that shed light on her internal turmoil and a suicide attempt. The case was presided over by Judge Jeffrey Karp, who delivered the verdict on a charge of assault with a dangerous weapon after three days of intense testimony involving North Andover Police Officer Kelsey Fitzsimmons.
Officer Fitzsimmons stood composed as Judge Karp articulated his judgment, acknowledging the credibility of both sides’ accounts of the incident. The 29-year-old officer faced accusations of aiming her service weapon at Officer Patrick Noonan on June 30, 2025. This confrontation occurred when Noonan, along with two other officers, arrived at her North Andover residence to enforce a restraining order issued by her fiancé, which temporarily resulted in the loss of her 4-month-old son and dog.
During her testimony in a Lawrence courtroom, Fitzsimmons recounted a different narrative. She insisted that she had not aimed her gun at Officer Noonan but had instead pointed it at herself, overwhelmed by a desire to end her own life. The moment of despair struck her following a brief conversation with a colleague, which she perceived as the unraveling of her life.
“I wanted to be alone with my firearm and take my life,” Fitzsimmons testified, describing the gravity of her emotional state. “I made that decision when I realized I had just lost everything in a 15-second conversation with my co-worker.”
Fitzsimmons claimed Wednesday on the stand in the Lawrence, Mass., courtroom that she never pointed a gun at Noonan and in fact, was aiming at her own head after she decided to commit suicide in the minutes after it set in that her world was collapsing.
“I wanted to be alone with my firearm and take my life,” she testified. “I made that decision when I realized I had just lost everything in a 15-second conversation with my co-worker.”
She said her fiancé, Justin Aylaian, essentially broke up with her by taking out the restraining order as their wedding was just months away. She was going to have to fight to keep custody of her son and dog and she would no longer be able to afford her house if Aylaian moved out. She also believed the restraining order would ensure she lost her job.
“My baby gone, my fiancé, my dog and my house and I knew it was going to be my job too. Whatever I was accused of wasn’t good because there was a restraining order,” she said.
So she decided to try to get the three cops out of her way so they wouldn’t be involved or harmed during the act, she said.
But Noonan testified that as Fitzsimmons was in her bedroom, packing items to send with her son, she lunged behind her door and grabbed something, before stepping back and aiming the weapon straight at him.
He heard a “click” noise before she “tap racked” twice to force a round into the chamber. And when she did, Noonan fired off two rounds until she dropped the gun and hit the floor, he claimed.
Fitzsimmons’ lung was punctured by the shot and she had to be airlifted to Mass General Hospital, where she would spend over 50 days recovering, following five surgeries.
During closing arguments Thursday morning, prosecutor James Gubitose dramatically held up Fitzsimmons’ empty gun, pointing it toward the front of the courtroom and pressing the trigger, causing a clicking noise.
He claimed she lied when she testified that she never tap racked the gun, since an officer at the scene emptied the firearm into a black box, with a round falling out of the chamber — indicating she had loaded a bullet.
Aylaian also took the witness stand, claiming he sought the order against Fitzsimmons, fearing she might harm herself or their son.
Fitzsimmons has claimed she was suffering from severe postpartum depression, having only given birth four months earlier.
Fitzsimmons’ defense attorney, Timothy Bradl, claimed Fitzsimmons had no motive to kill Noonan, a friend with whom she’d gone on tough emergency calls and who she knew had a wife and kid.
Bradl called Noonan’s account of what happened “sloppy” and inconsistent, mocking it as a story that could have come straight out of a “Rambo” movie.
“Backpedaling, sidestepping, tap racking,” Bradl said, repeating some of what Noonan claimed about Fitzsimmons’ movements in the moment before he shot her.
“He’s the only one with the ‘Rambo’ story,” Bradl said of Noonan. “Everyone else has what Kelsey says. He walks into a suicide in progress, ‘Kelsey, no. Kelsey, no.’ Bam bam. Brain freeze. He has to cover it up immediately.”
If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts or are experiencing a mental health crisis and live in New York City, you can call 1-888-NYC-WELL for free and confidential crisis counseling.
If you live outside the five boroughs, you can dial the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention hotline at 1-800-273-8255 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.
