Kelsey Fitzsimmons delivers emotional testimony about suicide attempt on trial’s final day
LAWRENCE — Witness testimony wrapped up in the Kelsey Fitzsimmons trial Wednesday afternoon, concluding after the 29-year-old former North Andover police officer took the stand in her own defense .
Fitzsimmons is accused of pointing a gun at a fellow officer serving her a restraining order obtained by her fiancé, Justin Aylaian, last summer. The officer, who testified earlier this week, shot Fitzsimmons in the chest. He believes she was trying to kill him.
On the stand, Fitzsimmons told a very different story about what happened on June 30, 2025.
As she walked around her home packing up items for her 4-month-old son, Fitzsimmons testified that she began to realize that her life was falling apart.
"I lost everything. Even my dog was on the restraining order," Fitzsimmons said, becoming emotional. "I saw my baby go, my fiancé, my dog, my house, I knew that was going to be my job too."
She acknowledged lying to police about where her guns were — she told police they were in the basement when, in fact, her weapons were stored in a chest in the bedroom. But Fitzsimmons explained she did so because she "wanted to be alone with my firearm and take my life."
"I made that decision as I realized I had lost everything," she said.
Fitzsimmons vehemently denied ever pointing a gun at Patrick Noonan, the fellow officer who shot her. She testified that she heard Noonan head down the stairs to the first floor of the home and realized it was her only opportunity to carry out her plan.
Noonan and the two other officers who responded to the home that night all testified that Fitzsimmons was never left alone.
Fitzsimmons also described what happened after she was shot.
She recalled feeling as though her "entire body was burning."
"It felt like I was choking. It felt like I was drowning," she said.
In the ambulance, and later, at Massachusetts General Hospital, Fitzsimmons recalled saying aloud, "I'm a (expletive) idiot. I just tried to kill myself with an unloaded gun."
Some members of the audience teared up during Fitzsimmons' testimony and could be seen dabbing their eyes.
The crowd inside the courtroom where the trial is taking place has thinned as the case progressed, but supporters still dotted the audience, many wearing purple, a color picked to show support for Fitzsimmons.
Before she took the stand, Fitzsimmons could be seen reviewing documents with her lawyers at the defense table. A pair of attorneys representing her in Probate and Family Court sat just behind the trial lawyers each of the last two days.
On cross-examination from prosecutor James Gubitose, Fitzsimmons wasn't combative, but often disputed his characterizations.
Gubitose seemed to build up Noonan's credentials during his questioning, asking Fitzsimmons about her knowledge of SWAT teams and the differences between North Andover and Lawrence. Lawrence, he suggested, had "more gangs, more drugs, more violence" than North Andover. Fitzsimmons agreed.
Noonan served on a SWAT team and worked in Lawrence before transferring back to North Andover.
"Really, he was the most experienced person on the force at this point, from what he had been through?" Gubitose said. "Officer Noonan, back when you were on the job, you looked up to him?"
Assistant District Attorney James Gubitose asks questions to Kelsey Fitzsimmons while on the witness stand on the third day of her trial in Lawrence Superior Court. (Tim Jean/ The Eagle-Tribune, pool)North of Boston Media Group
The prosecutor also pushed Fitzsimmons about receiving the restraining order and what her state of mind was like when police arrived.
"It was Justin who went to court?" Gubitose asked. "That's who your anger was focused on, right?"
Fitzsimmons said she wasn't sure she was angry, but agreed that "if any of my emotions were directed at someone, it was Justin." She denied knowing that Aylaian was in her house that night.
Gubitose continued to question Fitzsimmons' state of mind, asking her about her realization that her life was unraveling.
"All those things are going and it's all because of what Justin did?" he concluded. Fitzsimmons agreed.
Judge Jeffrey T. Karp, who is presiding over the jury-waived trial, heard from three other witnesses on Wednesday — a state police detective, Fitzsimmons' mother and one of Noonan's neighbors.
The neighbor, Maureen Torrisi, confirmed what defense lawyer Tim Bradl suggested to Noonan on Tuesday — that the officer called Fitzsimmons an "(expletive) wack job" sometime after the shooting.
In all, 13 witnesses, including Fitzsimmons, testified over the three days of the trial.
Karp's verdict essentially comes down to whose testimony he credited more — that of Fitzsimmons or that of Noonan.
Closing arguments in the trial are set for Thursday morning, with each side getting 30 minutes to sum up their case. After that, Karp said he didn't know how long he would deliberate, but he said a verdict could come as soon as Thursday afternoon.
Fitzsimmons' lawyers struck a confident tone speaking to reporters on Wednesday afternoon.
"We put everything in that we wanted to put in," Bradl said. "We put a lot of work into it."
To Fitzsimmons, getting on the stand was an opportunity to tell her side of the story.
"I feel like it was my only moment to say what actually happened," she said.
More about the case
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