Police Use of Force and Misconduct

In Essex Superior Court, former North Andover, Massachusetts, police officer Kelsey Fitzsimmons is facing a bench trial on a charge of assault with a dangerous weapon after a June 25, 2025 confrontation at her home in which she was shot by fellow Officer Patrick Noonan while he served her with a restraining order. Prosecutors say Fitzsimmons retrieved her service weapon, pointed it at Noonan and pulled the trigger, but the gun did not fire because there was no round in the chamber, and argue Noonan’s training and that stroke of luck are the only reasons he is alive. The defense counters that Fitzsimmons, then 28 and a new mother, was suicidal and suffering postpartum depression, insisting she pointed the gun at herself and that officers’ shouted pleas of "Kelsey, don’t do it" show they believed she was a danger only to herself, not to them. The standoff ended when Noonan fired three shots, striking Fitzsimmons in the chest after two initial rounds missed as she stepped backward, according to the prosecution’s account. The case, which began with more serious attempted-murder charges later reduced by a grand jury, highlights unresolved tensions in U.S. policing over how officers respond when one of their own is in a mental health crisis, especially during volatile domestic and restraining-order calls.