Trial to start for Kelsey Fitzsimmons, North Andover police officer shot while being served restraining order

The criminal trial for Kelsey Fitzsimmons, the North Andover, Massachusetts police officer who was shot last year while being served a restraining order, begins Monday.

Fitzsimmons, 29, faces one charge of assault with a dangerous weapon in the incident at her home in North Andover last summer.

She has chosen to forego a jury trial and will instead let a single judge decide her fate.

On June 30, 2025, Fitzsimmons was shot by a fellow North Andover police officer as officers entered her home to serve her with a restraining order from her then-fiancé.

Stressed about the officers taking her four-month old son, Fitzsimmons claimed she pulled her service weapon towards herself in a mental health episode. The officers said she pointed her gun at them, so they shot her in self defense.

Fitzsimmons spent weeks in the hospital with a collapsed lung and was later charged with assault.

Earlier this month a judge ruled that Fitzsimmons could move into an apartment on her own and begin the process of seeking custody of her now 1-year-old son.

Her trial starts at 9 a.m. Monday in Lawrence Superior Court.

"Procedurally, bench trials go faster," said WBZ-TV legal analyst Jennifer Roman. "The other strategy consideration here is that she and her defense team clearly think that a judge will be more understanding, perhaps even sympathetic to the theories of the case that they are putting forward, as opposed to a jury who may not be as understanding or sympathetic."

If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of self-harm, please call the crisis lifeline at 988 or the Massachusetts Behavioral Health Help Line at (833) 773-2445.