NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. — A North Andover police officer who was shot by a fellow officer earlier this year will remain behind bars after a judge ruled she poses a danger to the community.
Kelsey Fitzsimmons had initially been granted her release to her parents following the June shooting. However, she was re-arrested days later for allegedly failing to comply with a court-ordered breathalyzer test.
Her attorneys argue that injuries sustained in the shooting prevented her from using the device properly.
Despite the defense’s claims, a state Supreme Court judge denied her appeal for release, keeping her in custody.
Fitzsimmons was arraigned in early August from her hospital bed on charges of armed assault with intent to murder and two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon. She pleaded not guilty to all charges.
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.
Three officers were carrying out a court-ordered restraining order at Fitzsimmons’ home when the shooting happened, prosecutors said. Fitzsimmons was the subject of the restraining order.
“When one of the officers was escorting Ms. Fitzsimmons during the service of the court order, an armed confrontation took place,” Tucker said after the shooting. “One of the standard boxes to check is the retrieval of any firearms in the home.”
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, previously said.
“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.
Fitzsimmons also said that she was diagnosed with postpartum depression soon after giving birth to her son in February.
Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
©2025 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/7QOJU3BNCJERBNKJC5LWTBYFLU.png)
