Law&Crime Sidebar - Cop Shot Inside Her Home Now at Center of Explosive Trial

Episode Date: March 24, 2026

Former North Andover police officer Kelsey Fitzsimmons is on trial for assault with a dangerous weapon after she was shot by her own colleagues while they served her a restraining order. While the prosecution says she pointed her service weapon at fellow officer Patrick Noonan and pulled the trigger, the defense says she never pointed the gun at him at all — and that Noonan panicked, shot her, and is now adjusting the story to justify what he did. Law&Crime's Jesse Weber breaks down the biggest moments from the trial so far and what's at stake for Fitzsimmons as she faces up to 10 years in prison.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code SIDEBAR at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/sidebarHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea, Alex Ciccarone, & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrimeTwitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

When I met up with sectioning her, boxing her in, putting her into custody. Don't talk when I'm talking, sir. That right there, that is the tension inside a courtroom where former cop Kelsey Fitzsimmons is on trial for pointing a gun at one of her own colleagues, Officer Patrick Noonan, who ended up shooting her after he says she pulled the trigger. Now this trial has been picking up some serious steam, people watching every moment following every two. so we're going to break down some of the biggest moments so far. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. By the way, we talk so much about the dangers out there.

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that's exposing your information, and then they demand demand removal. Look, I was shocked. Turns out databases had all my information. And within days, Incogni was taking them down. The setup is simple. You just create an account. Incogni will do the rest. Plus, their new Unlimited Plans custom removals feature lets you submit specific links that their privacy experts will personally investigate and remove. So if you care about staying safe, take your privacy back with Incogni. Go to incogni.com slash sidebar, use code sidebar for 60% off an annual plan. All right. Here is a brand new trial out of Massachusetts. Massachusetts that we've been following that is already getting a lot of attention. And by the way,

it is getting intense. It's getting a lot of like Karen Reed level attention. It involves a police officer, her fiance, a restraining order, and a shooting that happened right inside her own home. We're talking about Kelsey Fitzsimmons. She was an off-duty cop working with the Andover police when three of her colleagues showed up to serve her with a restraining order that was filed by her fiance. Now, he was taking custody of their four-month-old son. What has a happen next after those officers showed up, that is now at the center of this case. That's the question. And it has Fitzsimmons now standing trial facing a charge of assault with a dangerous weapon. Now, the prosecution says that she pointed her service weapon at one of the officers

and pulled the trigger. That's the allegation. The defense says, wait a second, she never pointed at him at all and that she was just trying to do something else with that weapon. No body cameras, apparently, just two people in that courtroom, Kelsey Fitzsimmons and the fellow officer, who seemingly shot her, Patrick Noonan. Noonan took the stand, described that powerful moment when he says all of this went down. She reappeared with a gun and pointed it right at me and pulled the trigger. I screamed her name. I was completely shocked.

She had the drop on me. Now, there is surveillance video from inside the house. And I'll say it captures something pretty crucial. It's from the basement. You see there, Justin I lay in. That's Kelsey's fiancé moving around, gathering. items and then just watch this. His head snaps up. He drops what he's holding. A few seconds later, he's running out of the basement, through the garage, out of the house. Whatever just happened

upstairs, he seemingly heard it. And this video is the closest thing we have to a timeline of those final moments. Now, Noonan was actually back on the stand earlier today. And the defense's line of questioning is hinging on this idea that Noonan didn't calmly assess a threat, but rather that he panicked. He saw a gun reacted and then had to adjust the story to justify what he did. Defense attorney Tim Brattle started his cross-examination by going after that very idea. And that is when things got pretty tense fast. When I met up with sectioning her, boxing her in, putting her into custody. Don't talk when I'm talking, sir.

Let's not argue back before and just ask your questions. We just wait to answer until he's done. So if you're new to this case, this is where things stand. On Monday, June 30th, 2025, three North Andover officers went to Kelsey Fitzsimmons home to serve a restraining order. And her fiance, Justin, had filed it that same day, claiming that he feared for their four-month-old son because of what he described as disturbing messages from Kelsey and his belief that her behavior had become concerning leading to the weekend before all this went down. So the officers were there to take custody of the child, remove her firearms. but what started as what was supposed to be, a routine service, quickly turned into something no one expected. In his opening statement, prosecutor James Gubertos laid out the Commonwealth's case.

And in a nutshell, it's this, that Kelsey Fitzsimmons pointed her service weapon at a fellow officer and pulled the trigger. This Fitzsitts Simmons comes to the door holding her four-month-old child. They go into the house. They explain to her what was happening. that there was a restraining woman, that there's going to be a hearing on July 14th where she'd be able to tell her a silent story. And she tells the officer,

I know how this all works. They asked her where her firearm is off. And she lies to them. And she tells them they're in the basement. She's on her knees. She's gathering things. He notices at some point that her demeanor changes

she gets upset at that point she lunges to her right forward to her right and he can't see what she grabs but she grabs a fire turns out to be her service weapon she comes back she raises it

before officer you can do anything she pulls the trigger as it's leveled at his face and the ghost plate. Oh, sir. It goes to play. Excuse me. It does not fire.

The gun hadn't fired. And so she was doing what the officers would describe to you is a tap rack. She had the gun in her hand. She bangs the magazine and attempts to rack it. She's unsuccessful the first time. Officer Nune is still telling her,

pleading with her, trying to de-esolated. Kelsey, don't do it. don't do. She does it again, racks around. As she's picking up the gun, raising the gun, opposite Newton fires. He fires twice. But defense attorney Timothy Brattle told the court, the evidence will show something very different that Kelsey Fitzsimmons never pointed the gun at Newton at all. 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. June 30th, 2025, Ms. Fitzsimmons' entire world imploded, was destroyed when her fiancée,

Justin Elaine, obtained a restraining order behind her back with unchallenged, untested allegations at the Essex Probate Court. And he took away at 4.30 in the afternoon took away custody of her four-month-old the evidence will show that Kelsey never pointed a gun at him and that this was a mistake. It was a brain freeze. It was a mechanical thing.

It was someone seeing a gun and shooting. Here's the problem. I said it earlier. There's no body cameras to tell us which version is true. Obviously, that would have helped. Now here's something else that matters. Kelsey Fitzsimmons waived her right to a jury trial. That means there's no jury in this case. Just one person.

It's a Ben's trial. It's Judge Jeffrey Karp deciding her fate. A lot of reasons people would do this. Sometimes they'd think if it's a complicated legal issue, maybe it's better for a judge to decide this as opposed to a jury who, you know, could be swayed by emotions. Maybe they're not as familiar with the law. So you don't have 12 people in a box.

It's just important to keep in mind as you hear these witnesses because they're not talking to the jury. and arguably one of the most important witnesses, the man who pulled the trigger, Officer Patrick Noonan. Noonan testified that he had been with North Andover PD for years. He was a SWAT team member, a firearms instructor, trained in stress shooting. So this is somebody who, by all accounts, shouldn't panic, right? This is not somebody who should be under duress and just wantonly fire their weapon. So in other words, when officers were looking for somebody to serve this restraining order,

Noon claimed he was picked for his experience and his calm under pressure. So on June 30th, Noonan and two other officers went to Kelsey Fitzsimmons home. They knocked. She answered. She was holding her four-month-old son. They explained the restraining order. They told her they were taking custody of the baby, removing her firearms, and she told them that her guns were in the basement. But as they moved through the house, Noonan noticed something.

I noticed her duty belt on the couch. So I went and checked that. There was no firearm in there. and I observed a like a gun case on a mantle. I opened that up and there was no gun. Kelsey told him again, the guns are in the basement. And then she apparently asked if she could gather some things for the baby. And Noonan says she actually handed him the baby.

She went to gather some belongings for their son. And she came up and handed me the baby. He was screaming. I was trying to calm him down. I believe she gave me his bottle and I was trying to feed him. But I'm thinking it can't be too comfortable. I wear an outer carrier vest and I have all my equipment in the front. So it was kind of hard to cradle him.

Now Noonan testified. He eventually handed the baby off to another officer. Kelsey wanted to go upstairs to pack more clothes for her son. So Noonan and another officer apparently followed her. He stayed on the landing. She went into her bedroom and he apparently watched her from the doorway. Yes, she was on one knee when she was wrapping up the clothes and she pushed off with with her left foot and Lunged to be in the door frame so to my left of her right she reappeared with a gun and pointed it right at me and pulled the trigger

Can you describe or show us how she did that? Yep, so when she came around the frame here she she came up and clicked Where was it pointed? My face. After it clicked, what happened? I screamed her name. I was completely shocked. She had the drop on me.

Okay, so that gun didn't fire. Noonan says she cleared the jam, what's called a tap rack, and he was screaming at her to stop. I drew my weapon. She was already backpedaling, and she was doing what we call a tap rack. Basically, when you do a tap rack, that's when you're done malfunctions.

So when you tap the maggie, You want to make sure it's properly seated in the magazine well and then you rack the upper receiver or the The slide she did it twice so the first time she did it I I I it was really it was slow motion I could see her hands Slide off the the top of the receiver She started moving her way around the bed and she began tap rack and again and I was yelling at her don't do it don't do it And then what happened She after she successfully got around in the chamber her right arm started to come up and I shot twice in rapid succession

So after the shots Nunes says that he and the other officers rushed to help her and he remembers her saying one word We immediately started first aid How so put in pressure on the wound we wanted to see if there was an exit wound which there was So we were trying to stop the bleeding Lieutenant, or Lieutenant, Officer Houston came running upstairs with a med kit. Lieutenant Daly started to wrap the wounds in Gauze, and then Officer Cork came into the room, and I ordered them to secure the weapon. Did you hear the defendant saying anything after she was on the ground?

It hurts, and I said just keep breathing. you have a baby to live for? Okay, but then you go back to cross-examination, right? And Timothy Brattle kept pressing this time on the shooting itself. In court, Noonan said he fired twice in rapid succession, but this defense attorney pointed out that his initial statement to police may have told a very different story. Who did you get a call from? Officer Houston. And what was that call about? It was the next question. And your answer was, he had asked me if Lieutenant Daley reached out to me. I said no. Officer Houston said, said, hey, can you? you meet me at the CCC, which is a little grade school behind the Atkinson school.

He said, we have to serve papers to Officer Kelsey. I said, okay, sounds good. And I drove over to that location and met up with him, right? And you knew those papers were a restraining order for Kelsey to give up the baby, give up her guns, lose her job, brought by her fiance, right? I had no idea what was entailed in the restraining order at that time. At what point did you learn the job here? As far as the restraining order? As far as this job you were going to do at Kelsey Sacks. What job?

The restraining order service, taking the baby, finding the guns, sectioning her, boxing her in, putting her into custody. Don't talk when I'm talking, sir. Box. Let's not argue back before and just ask your questions. We can just wait to answer until he's done. If you can restate, thank you. Sure.

So you asked me what the job was. So my suggestion is that the job is serving the restraining order, going to get the baby, finding the guns. You thought about boxing her in and taking her into custody. You thought about sectioning her. about sectioning her. That job. When I met up with Officer Houston behind the CCC. And at that point you knew what you were getting into, right? After he explained what was going on, and we were pretty shocked. In all of the statements you've made prior to being here yesterday and

today, you've never said that you were pretty shocked about anything, have you? I don't, I don't recall. You weren't shocked. You were treating this like a video game, weren't you? No. Let's talk about the bedroom and the shots that you fired. Here in court, you said that those shots were in rapid fire. Rapid succession. Yes, okay. And like a boom boom?

Yes. No, that's not what you said to the state police, though, is it? That was eight months ago, right around. around there? I don't recall. I said I shot twice, possibly. You told the state police that you pulled the trigger. This is 1232 in the audio. You told the police that you pulled the trigger once. You said the word once. And then you said, I kept giving commands. And then you said, I pulled the trigger again. That's a completely different scenario than two shots and rapid sales. succession isn't it as far as the turning frame I was trying to be I was

trying to recall the event as best as possible so it's fair to say that talking then is it's right after the incident now you're here in court both of those propositions can't be true can they What the proposition, I'll rephrase them. The proposition that you said here in court, that you made two shots in rapid succession. Yes. And what you said on July 3rd, one shot, giving some commands, another shot. Both of those things can't be true, Ken?

They can be true. They can be true. Yes. So rapid succession and then what? You talk really fast before the second shot? Oh, I was giving commands. Don't do it, don't do it. Well, that's not what you said.

you pulled the trigger once, I kept giving commands, I pulled the trigger again. Yes. So there are two different assertions, aren't they? No. Okay. So then this defense attorney shifts to the moments before the shooting, pointing out that Kelsey had been trying to get Noonan to leave the room, that she kept handing him items, asking him to take them downstairs, and the defense says that's not the behavior

of someone about to attack. It's someone trying to get officers out of the room. When you were upstairs with Kelsey, she kept giving you things and asking you to take them downstairs, didn't she? That's correct. And she did that with Houston as well, right? Yes. So it's fair to say that she was trying to get you away from her, right? I don't know what her mindset was. I wasn't going to leave her alone.

Sure. Let me ask you a better question. The effect of that would have been, if you took things downstairs, that you would have left her. Yes, that's correct. Okay. That's not consistent with her trying to kill you, is it? She's trying to get rid of you. Can you ask that question again? The fact that she's trying to remove you from the area where her gun is, is not consistent with her trying to kill you, is it?

At that point, no. And then this defense attorney went after the most glaring detail. Noonan missed a 20-year veteran, SWAT-trained, firearms instructor from close range. The defense says that is not the mark of a cool, collected, calculated professional. They say that is evidence of panic. So you're a very well-trained SWAT officer. Yes? Yes. You're a firearms instructor. No. You're a patrol instructor. Will you instruct other officers on the job, right? Field training. officer field training yes and you've been doing this for 25 years no 20 years

right around there yes okay so you've been doing this for 20 years and one of your thought processes was that you wanted to give your training and experience back to the north and over PD where you started right yes and and come back where where I started and here missed her from about seven feet away. I did. It was longer than seven feet. It was at that point about 15 feet. 15 feet, I would say.

Do you have any measurements on this? No, but if you remove the bed and you were to walk diagonal from where I shot, it was probably around 15. So the first shot you missed her and you hit the air conditioner. Is that right? Or did you know? I didn't know where it went. And then finally, this defense attorney asked the question that gets to the heart of the defense's case.

If Kelsey was pointing the gun at Noonan and he shot her in the chest, she would have fallen backward. So how did the gun end up under her leg? The defense says it's because she wasn't pointing it at him. She's got the gun out in front of her. She falls on her back. If the gun's underneath her, is this some sort of a magic gun? I don't know where you're getting at. Doesn't it make sense that if the gun is out here and she's,

receives a force of a 9mm bullet string her back this way. How does the gun get all the way behind her and under her leg? I have no idea. It's the way she fell. Okay, from there we go to the man who set all of this in motion. Justin, right, Kelsey's fiancé, the father of her child, the man who walked into a courthouse in the morning of June 30th and filed that restraining order that sent those officers to her door. When he took the stand, his testimony was very emotional.

And under cross-examination, things got pretty personal. You know, he started from the beginning how he and Kelsey met. It was September of 2023. She had reached out to me on Facebook. She had seen a picture of me posted on the North Andover Fire Department page. She was recently going to be getting hired as a North Andover police officer. And she reached out to me on Facebook. Fair to say you developed a relationship with her?

We did very quickly, yes. Okay. At some point, did you, did it be? become more than casual? Yep, it became more than casual very quickly. Both of us developed feelings very quickly, and that developed into a relationship very quickly as well. And it was about roughly six months after that we had initially met that I had, that Kelsey and I had moved in together. At some point, you guys were living together. Did, you had a baby? That is correct. Okay. And when was a boy or girl?

Boy. Okay. How old now? He is 13 months old. Okay. At some point, and I'm going to turn your attention to the weekend of July 28, 29th going into Monday the 30th, okay? Okay. Okay. Did your relationship become strained in any way? Just yes or no? Yes. Okay. And as a result of that, did you decide to do something on June 30th that Monday? Yes, I end up obtaining a restraining order. And he told the court that leading up to that day, he was getting messages from Kelsey that were concerning him. At some point, were you communicating with the defendant at all?

Yes. How so? It started in the morning. It started over, it was both texts and phone calls, that we were going back and forth with each other. I had requested to see my son. I wanted to make sure that he was okay. She had sent many disturbing messages back and forth to me.

At any point, did you go back there to retrieve some items, the guns, or anything like that? Yes, the day prior, I had gone to obtain. I knew that I needed to pick up my firearms. I had feared for my son, and I thought that his wife was in danger and grave risk. Now, that part about going back to the house, that's very important, because the defense picked up on that and pressed them on that during cross-examination. We're going to come back to that. But on the day of the shooting, he claims Kelsey was trying to get him to meet her.

Now I'm going to turn your attention, now that we're on the 29th, I'm going to turn your attention to the 30th. You had stated that you had been calling and texting the defendant throughout that day, correct? Yes. Were there any plans attempted to be made by anyone? She had made several attempts to try to get me to meet her at the common via text message. She had reached out and said, can we meet the common at 2 p.m.? My initial response back to that was for what.

She then, again, tried to get me to reason with me, to meet me at the common again. At that point, I said I had no gas. There was no way for me to get there. And she tried to meet up at several points. And I told her that was not comfortable. I did not feel comfortable being alone with you. At some point, did you make your way to North Andover? I did, yes. Why?

I felt that my son's wife was in grave danger and the imminent harm may come to him in the hands of Kelsey. And here's the real pivotal moment in how it unfolded. While Kelsey was upstairs with Noonan, her mother had apparently arrived at the house and was downstairs holding the baby. So Justin and his sister Courtney, they pull up, they walk in, Courtney took the baby outside to the car. Justin went back inside to grab a suitcase from the basement, and that is when he apparently heard.

At the moment that we showed you earlier from this surveillance footage, where Justin says that he was in the basement when he heard something, and that changed everything. I immediately heard an officer's commands. I heard an officer scream out. Stop, don't do it. At that point, what I believe, I heard, several gunshots ring out, and I heard Kelsey's mother screaming. I got into my vehicle. I believe I had made eye contact very briefly with Officer Houston, who was grabbing his medical bag out of his patrol vehicle. I got into my truck, and I immediately pulled a U-turn and drove where I saw my sister running from.

Once I got to the other end of the school, I had stopped my vehicle, and at that point I didn't see which direction my sister had gone. So I had stood outside of my car yelling her name repeatedly. I wasn't sure where she was or if she was okay. At some point did she appear? She did appear. She came running out behind another house across the way, and she came running over towards me.

And what happened when she got to you? She got in the vehicle, and then we quickly, we drove down the road to get away towards Mass Ave and North Andover. Now the defense then took Justin back to the day before the shooting, June 29th. And this is where things got very interesting. You visited the house on the 29th to retrieve your guns, right?

Yes. In fact, that was your grandfather's safe, wasn't it? Yes, sir. And you wanted to take that with you, didn't you? I did, yes, sir. And you took Kelsey's guns out of that safe, and you put them on the bed so that you could take only your guns and your grandfather's safe.

Isn't that correct? I did not take the gun safe, sir. Isn't that what your intention was until Kelsey asked you not to? I did leave the gun safe, yes, sir. You left it because Kelsey asked you to leave it because she needed a place to safely keep her guns, right? I don't know if that was her intention, sir. So why does that matter?

Because Justin says he feared for his son's life. He was so scared that he went to court to get a restraining order. But the day before all of that, he was inside Kelsey's house moving her guns around, and then he left them there. So the defense is asking, if you really thought she was that dangerous, why would you just leave her with her weapons, right?

And the defense went after Justin's credibility also from a different angle. His job, more importantly, that he was under investigation or apparently under investigation, for something that was allegedly caught on video. Able to work for that department, isn't that right? Yes, sir. And the reason you were placed on suspension or administratively, whatever you call it, is because you have been caught on video many, many times using drugs that are in violation of your department. and the town policy, correct?

Allegations were placed against me, and the town has a responsibility to do their due diligence and investigate that manner. So that's a yes? Yes, sir. Okay, so here's what's at stake. If the judge rules in favor of the Commonwealth and believes Patrick Noonan's version of events

that Kelsey pointed a gun in him and pulled the trigger, she could be looking at up to 10 years in prison. If he believes the defense, that she never pointed it in anyone, that this was a mistake, that there was a panic situation, she walks. So you can check out our gavel to gavel coverage of this case on Long Crime's YouTube channel. It's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so much for joining us.

And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcast. You can also check us out on NBC's Peacock as well. We've got Sidebar episodes up there too. If you want to follow me, X, Instagram, my News Nation show, Jesse Weber Live, Monday through Friday, 11 p.m. Eastern. See you next time, everybody.