An off-duty North Andover police officer involved in what officials called an “armed confrontation” with a fellow officer had her bid to be released on bail denied on Friday, court records show.
Kelsey Fitzsimmons, 28, was shot in June by a fellow member of her police department who claimed she pointed a gun at him while serving a restraining order obtained by Fitzsimmons’ fiancé.
A decision by Essex County Superior Court Judge Kathleen McCarthy-Neyman simply states: “Bail petition denied. Defendant remains held without bail.”
Fitzsimmons’ lawyers filed a renewed bail petition appeal on Monday, but the documents were restricted from being released to the public, according to a court clerk.
A Lawrence District Court judge originally ordered Fitzsimmons held without right to bail under the state’s dangerousness statute at her arraignment on Aug. 7.
Fitzsimmons, however, challenged the judge’s ruling with a bail review petition and her attorney, Timothy Bradl, argued last week that she should be allowed to be released under a proposal that she see mental health professionals weekly and be under a partial level of hospitalization care.
Bradl described Fitzsimmons as being in the “grips of postpartum depression,” for which she has sought help, and he challenged officials’ version of events for the shooting incident, which left Fitzsimmons hospitalized.
The defense attorney also argued that Fitzsimmons would not be able to fight for the custody of her 6-month-old baby while being held as her criminal case proceeds.
Fitzsimmons faces an assault to murder charge and two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon in Lawrence District Court, to which she pleaded not guilty earlier this month.
The charges stem from the June 30 incident, which the Essex County District Attorney’s Office previously described as an “armed confrontation.”
What happened during the confrontation?
On June 30, three North Andover police officers arrived at Fitzsimmons’ home to deliver a restraining order, confiscate her three guns and take custody of her child, according to descriptions of events by an Essex County prosecutor in court, Bradl and a police report filed in Lawrence District Court.
Officer Patrick Noonan of the North Andover Police Department reported to state police that Fitzsimmons pointed a gun in his direction and pulled the trigger — but there was no round in the chamber, according to court documents.
The officer then said something to the effect of, “No, don’t do it,” according to prosecutor James Gubitose at last week’s hearing.
Fitzsimmons was in the process of racking the gun to load a round into the chamber, Gubitose said.
“When she did that, he fired one shot, missed and fired another shot,” Gubitose said. “Fearing for his life, he struck her in the chest.”
Officials contend that Fitzsimmons told police serving the restraining order that all three of her guns were safely secured in the basement of her home — a statement Bradl said Fitzsimmons denies telling officers.
He also denied that Fitzsimmons pointed the gun at Noonan.
“The first thing she said to me when I met her, when I raised this issue, this extremely shocking allegation that she’d point a gun at this guy, she said, ‘I would never point a gun at a fellow law enforcement officer,’” Bradl said.
Fitzsimmons graduated from the police academy in May 2024. She issued a statement last month addressing the shooting.
She said she tried to take her own life when officers were serving her the restraining order and that she suffered from postpartum depression at the time of the incident.
In the statement, Fitzsimmons said her fiancé turned his back on her and is now “legally bullying me to get what [he] want[s], slandering my character, and using my diagnosis against me to make me seem like I am a monster.“
“There are more false allegations than I can even comment on,” the statement reads.
Fitzsimmons gave birth to her first child in February and said she was undergoing treatment at the time of the shooting.
Fitzsimmons’ certification to work in law enforcement has been suspended following the incident. She had won her gun license back shortly before being served the restraining order, which ordered her to turn in her firearm.
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