SALEM, Mass. — For nearly a year, former North Andover police officer Kelsey Fitzsimmons has not been allowed contact with her young son. On Tuesday, that all changed.
Fitzsimmons and her now ex‑fiancé, North Andover firefighter Justin Aylaian, who share a 13-month-old son together, stood before a judge in a Salem courtroom to modify the terms of an abuse prevention order that has been extended against Fitzsimmons.
Flanked by their respective attorneys in Essex Probate and Family Court, Fitzsimmons and Aylaian agreed to soften the order that previously barred her from seeing her son or contacting her ex‑fiancé, among other no-contact provisions.
The former couple agreed to amend the order to allow Fitzsimmons to contact their son, to allow her to contact Aylaian, and to allow her to visit Aylaian’s home. Fitzsimmons is also no longer prohibited from visiting Aylaian’s work area.
Fitzsimmons, who was shot by a colleague while being served a restraining order at her home in June 2025, was found not guilty of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in March after a four-day bench trial in a Lawrence courtroom.
Fitzsimmons, then 28, was off-duty and on administrative leave when three of her male colleagues came to her North Andover home to serve the restraining order.
Aylaian had filed the initial restraining order against Fitzsimmons last summer. Aylaian testified during the trial in March that he feared for his life and the safety of their newborn baby.
Prosecutors had alleged that Fitzsimmons pointed a firearm at a responding officer while police were serving the restraining order. She was shot by North Andover police officer Patrick Noonan during the encounter.
Aylaian asked the court on Tuesday to vacate the no-contact order against Fitzsimmons and their son.
The abuse prevention order, extended on Tuesday for 90 days, still orders Fitzsimmons not to abuse Aylaian, who has custody of their son. It also prohibits Fitzsimmons from having any firearms.
Her lawyer said the modified order is a good step as the former couple moves forward collaboratively.
When asked in March, after the not guilty verdict, what the last nine months have been like for her, Fitzsimmons said, “There is not a word for that. If you want an image of it, picture me on a mat in a jail cell crying for my son day after day after day.”
Tuesday’s court hearing happened months after happier times for the former couple.
Fitzsimmons and Aylaian had planned a wedding in Maine last fall, according to an online wedding registry that has since been taken down.
Several photographs of the couple had been posted on the registry site, including one of them smiling and showing her engagement ring.
“We wish you both a lifetime of happiness,” the North Andover Fire Department said in a Facebook post in October 2024, after the couple became engaged.
On Tuesday, after the court hearing ended in Salem, Fitzsimmons walked out of the courtroom first, then Aylaian. Neither looked at one another.
The former couple is due back in a Lawrence courtroom on April 28 for motions in the 209C case related to custody of their child.
They are also scheduled back in court on July 13, which is the end of the 90-day period for the abuse prevention order against Fitzsimmons.
A pre-trial conference in the 209C case is scheduled for July 15.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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