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LAWRENCE — Testimony is continuing Tuesday morning in the trial of former North Andover Police Officer Kelsey Fitzsimmons.
Fitzsimmons, 29, is charged with a single count of assault with a dangerous weapon. Judge Jeffrey T. Karp is presiding over the jury-waived trial in Essex Superior Court.
Prosecutors say Fitzsimmons pointed a gun at officer Patrick Noonan on June 30, 2025, while he was serving her a restraining order taken out by her then-fiancé, Justin Aylaian, and tried to fire it. Fitzsimmons maintains she tried to take her own life.
Follow live updates from Tuesday’s testimony below:
People to know:
Essex County prosecutor James Gubitose
Defense attorney Tim Bradl
9:56 a.m. - ‘You were treating this like a video game’
Bradl repeatedly suggested to Noonan he went to Fitzsimmons’ home with a plan to section her and to “box her in” while serving the order. The officer denied that.
Noonan testified he had “no idea” what the restraining order entailed until he met fellow officers at a nearby school to Fitzsimmons’ home.
When the officer explained the situation, Noonan said he was “pretty shocked.”
Bradl told the officer it was the first time he used that word.
“You weren’t shocked. You were treating this like a video game, weren’t you?” Bradl asked. Noonan denied that.
The cross-examination of Noonan has been by far the most contentious exchange of the trial thus far.
Bradl challenged Noonan’s recounting of the shooting, contrasting what he told Massachusetts State Police in an interview with his testimony at trial.
Noonan testified he shot Fitzsimmons twice in “rapid succession.” Bradl pointed to what he described as a “different assertion” in the interview, where he said he fired at Fitzsimmons, gave commands, then shot again.
The officer denied any inconsistency.
9:36 a.m. - Noonan denies leaving Fitzsimmons alone
Gubitose asked two questions of Noonan before Bradl began his cross-examination Tuesday morning, asking the officer what happened to the gun he used in the shooting.
Noonan told the prosecutor he turned his weapon over to the chief of police.
Bradl’s questioning began with Noonan’s actions on the night of the shooting. He pressed the officer on whether he left Fitzsimmons alone or went downstairs while serving her the restraining order.
Noonan denied ever doing so.
“This service isn’t going by the book?” Bradl asked. “From my perspective, it is,” Noonan replied.
The questions moved to Noonan’s opinion of Fitzsimmons. He testified he didn’t know her well before serving the order because they worked different shifts at the police department.
Bradl suggested to Noonan he told his neighbor that Fitzsimmons was a “wack job.”
Noonan couldn’t recall doing so, but said it was possible “after she tried to kill me.”
9:25 a.m. - Judge discusses request for a view
Before Noonan returned to the stand, Karp ruled on a defense motion for a view of the home where the shooting took place.
Fitzsimmons sold the home following her shooting and arrest, and Bradl said Tuesday that the defense was “getting a little bit of passive resistance” from the new homeowners about visiting the property in North Andover. Gubitose said prosecutors weren’t opposed to the idea.
“I just don’t want a last-minute decision,” Karp said, telling Bradl it was his decision. “As for whether I need it or not, I don’t think it’s my place to say that.”
Bradl said he would report back either way by the end of the day.
More about the case
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