Kelsey Fitzsimmons worked her way up to police officer. One night in June, that all changed

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. — Back in September, Kelsey Fitzsimmons was among five female officers recognized by the North Andover Police Department.

On National Police Women’s Day, the department lauded Fitzsimmons and other women as excellent role models in the community.

“They all demonstrate leadership and a strong desire to help the citizens and visitors to the town of North Andover each and everyday,” the department shared in a Facebook post on Sept. 12, 2024, alongside a photograph of Fitzsimmons, standing at attention in her police uniform with her right hand raised.

“They are also excellent role models for the youth of our town and build lasting relationships between the department and the community,” the post said.

Fast forward to this week, when a state commission announced that Fitzsimmons has been suspended as a police officer. Her suspension came two weeks after Fitzsimmons was shot in the chest by one of her colleagues at her home.

On Thursday, Fitzsimmons, who is facing criminal charges in the matter, broke her silence about the night on June 30, when her life as a police officer, and citizen, all changed.

Through her attorney, Fitzsimmons released her version of events that night, saying in one harrowing moment, she had pointed her gun at her temple with the intent of killing herself.

That’s when, according to Fitzsimmons, another officer shot her in the chest.

“I am in trouble and have a gunshot wound to my chest because in that awful isolated moment, I no longer had the will to live,” Fitzsimmons said in her first public comment on the incident, adding that she was diagnosed with postpartum depression soon after giving birth to her son in February.

Fitzsimmons, 28, was off-duty and on administrative leave when three of her male colleagues came to her North Andover home to serve a restraining order to her.

The order, obtained by Fitzsimmons’ fiancée and the father of their four-month-old baby, came “by surprise” in an ex-parte fashion “seeking to take the child away from her,” her attorney, Tim Bradl, said this week.

Prosecutors said an armed confrontation ensued. Fitzsimmons was shot by police once in the chest in the incident on Phillips Brooks Road around 6 p.m. on June 30, according to Essex County District Attorney Paul Tucker and her attorney.

“When one of the officers was escorting Ms. Fitzsimmons during the service of the court order, an armed confrontation took place,” Tucker said shortly after the shooting. “One of the standard boxes to check is the retrieval of any firearms in the home.”

Fitzsimmons was flown to a Boston hospital. She said she has had two surgeries since the shooting.

“Here I am today, two surgeries later, bedridden, and trying really hard to heal from these significant injuries,” said Fitzsimmons. “I am facing felony charges for a halfhearted attempt to take my own life.”

Her attorney said this week that Fitzsimmons was in “grave condition.”

HAPPIER TIMES

Fitzsimmons had worked her way up the ranks to become a law enforcement officer.

She began her career working part-time for the Fisher College campus police, according to her LinkedIn page. While a student, she worked security for the Boston Red Sox and also as an intern for the Methuen Police Department.

She received a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Fisher College in 2020. That same year, Fitzsimmons also began study at the Massachusetts School of Law.

After college, she worked as a legal assistant at a Lawrence law firm.

In September 2021, Fitzsimmons secured her first full-time job in law enforcement, working as a correctional officer for the Essex County Sheriff’s Department for just over two years.

She began work as a full-time officer at the North Andover Police Department in November 2023, according to her LinkedIn page.

Fitzsimmons also had plans for her personal life.

She and her fiancée, North Andover firefighter Justin Aylaian, had planned a wedding in Maine for this fall, according to an online wedding registry that has since been taken down.

Several photographs of the couple had been posted to the registry site, including one of the couple smiling and showing her engagement ring.

“We wish you both a lifetime of happiness,” the North Andover Fire Department said in a Facebook post last fall, after the couple became engaged.

Their wedding date had been set for Oct. 4.

In February, she and Aylaian celebrated the birth of their child, a boy.

The couple was among several new parents connected to the North Andover Fire Department. Eight of the department’s firefighters welcomed nine babies in the past nine months, according to an online report.

SUSPENDED, CRIMINAL CHARGES

Days after the shooting, on July 3, criminal charges were lodged against Fitzsimmons, who had been with the North Andover Police Department for over a year and a half when the shooting happened.

Fitzsimmons is facing one count of assault to murder and two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, according to the clerk’s office at Lawrence District Court.

It was unclear Thursday when Fitzsimmons would be arraigned on the charges. No date has been set for her arraignment.

Fitzsimmons said she “never pointed my firearm at the officer” who shot her.

“That officer was not just a colleague; he was my friend,” said Fitzsimmons.

Last summer, she and the officer responded to a call together. When they walked into a local home, they saw a horrific scene: a murder-suicide of a mother and her infant.

Fitzsimmons was 20 weeks pregnant at the time.

“The officer that shot me experienced this call with me,” she said. “To this day, his support during that hard time is something I am still grateful for, regardless of this recent incident that occurred.”

“This traumatic murder-suicide call was the catalyst for my mental health complications,” she said.

This week, Fitzsimmons was suspended as a police officer by the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission.

Fitzsimmons’ suspension “is effective immediately,” Commission Executive Director Enrique Zuniga wrote in his order on Monday.

While the reason for her suspension was redacted from the document, Zuniga wrote the Commission “has received sufficient evidence” for the action.

Fitzsimmons “is hereby directed to surrender, and the Respondent’s agency is directed to collect, without delay, any agency-issued credentials and equipment that promote and support the performance of functions associated with service as a law enforcement officer,” Zuniga wrote.

This includes “any uniform, badge, firearm, assigned cruiser, and use-of-force instruments, such as tasers,” Zuniga wrote.

THE SHOOTING

On June 30, around dinner time, Fitzsimmons said she was “sitting on my couch feeding my baby boy when I got a knock on my front door.”

She said she was “very confused to see 3 of my colleagues.”

“I open the door and I am told the following: your fiancé has filed a restraining order against you, he will be taking your son away with no contact allowed, your firearms license that was just returned is gone again, and oh yeah, that career you worked so hard for and love, that you were just cleared to return to, that will be taken away too,” Fitzsimmons said.

She said she then packed bags containing baby food, clothes, diapers, and toys “for my son to be taken away from me.”

“I passed my son off to a fellow police officer, and I went into my bedroom,” Fitzsimmons said.

That’s when the unthinkable happened, she said: She wanted to end her life.

Fitzsimmons on Thursday said she would never harm her child or another officer.

“As a police officer myself, I would never even think to intentionally hurt another police officer,” she said. “I see everyone in uniform as my brothers and sisters.”

Of the officer who shot her, she said, “I especially would never hurt my friend. My friend who has a loving wife and children. I just would NEVER. My firearm was NEVER pointed in any direction other than my temple.”

“When I pulled the trigger, my gun did not fire,” Fitzsimmons said. “However, I immediately got shot in chest, by my colleague and friend.”

She said, “I am extremely grateful for two things: that God protected me from my attempt of taking my own life, and protected me by millimeters from dying from that gunshot wound to my chest.”

North Andover Police Chief Charles Gray has declined to discuss why Fitzsimmons was on leave from the department at the time of the shooting, calling it a personnel matter.

“It’s a critical incident, and like a lot of critical incidents the police officers deal with, we all have our own way of getting through it, whether together or by ourselves,” Gray said shortly after the shooting.

POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION

Central to this case is Fitzsimmons’ role as a new mother, and the postpartum depression she was experiencing when she was shot, according to Fitzsimmons and her lawyer.

“She needed help. She needed compassion,” said Bradl, her attorney. “What she got instead was gunfire and now, an appalling campaign to criminalize her in order to deflect accountability from the agency responsible for this botched response.”

“Instead of de-escalation, she was met with deadly force,” Bradl said.

Fitzsimmons said she was diagnosed with postpartum depression in March, three weeks after giving birth to her son.

She said she immediately sought help from medical professionals.

“I have actively been in treatment since the day of my diagnosis and was eager to heal and feel like myself again,” Fitzsimmons said. “Unfortunately, healing a sickness does not happen overnight.”

A spokesman for Tucker, the district attorney, declined to discuss the case in detail this week.

“The facts in support of the charges that were issued out of Lawrence District Court will be detailed at the arraignment in open court,” the spokesperson said.

Bradl said he intends “to fight these charges with every legal resource available.”

“We will demand full transparency, and follow every lead where it takes us,” Bradl said. “We will call out every contradiction and expose every lie.”

Her attorney said the shooting in late June changed Fitzsimmons’ life “in an instant.”

“She was confronted by three men from her department, and in an instant her baby, her job and her future with her fiancée were all taken from her,” Bradl said.

Tucker, in speaking to reporters after the shooting, noted the difficulties facing law enforcement officers in their line of work.

“We worry deeply about the mental health of our officers,” Tucker said at the time. “These are humans, these are police officers who have to make quick decisions. This should not go unnoticed or unappreciated by the public.”

Boston 25 News reviewed the restraining order filed by Aylaian against Fitzsimmons. It outlined allegations of domestic abuse.

Fitzsimmons said in her statement on Thursday that she “was failed by so many.”

She said the North Andover Police Department has released a narrative about the incident that “is vague and noncommittal for a reason.”

“If body cameras were worn by my department, I would not be in a position where I am wrongly accused of pointing my gun at this officer. I know the truth will prevail,” Fitzsimmons said Thursday.

Boston 25 reached out to North Andover Police for comment. The department directed inquiries about the matter to Tucker’s office.

Fitzsimmons, meanwhile, said her infant son gives her reason to live.

“I will survive and thrive. I know I need to be on this earth for many reasons, but most importantly- my beautiful son,” Fitzsimmons said.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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