LAWRENCE, Mass. (Court TV) — The police officer who shot his former colleague while serving a restraining order at her home conceded that he may have referred to her as a “whack job” when pressed by the defense.
Kelsey Fitzsimmons sits in court during her trial. (Court TV)
North Andover Police Officer Patrick Noonan returned to the witness stand on Tuesday to continue his testimony in the Commonwealth’s case against former North Andover Police Officer Kelsey Fitzsimmons. Fitzsimmons is charged with assault after allegedly pulling a gun and trying to shoot Noonan.
Noonan testified that Fitzsimmons had been gathering clothes for her then-4-month-old infant when her entire demeanor changed. “She was on one knee when she was wrapping up the clothes, and she pushed off with her left foot and lunched behind the door frame,” Noonan testified on Monday. “She reappeared with a gun and pointed it right at me and pulled the trigger.”
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Noonan said he was unprepared for what happened. “I screamed her name. I was completely shocked. She had the drop on me.” Noonan then returned fire, hitting Fitzsimmons in the chest.
On Tuesday, Noonan returned to the witness stand for cross-examination, where he doubled down on what happened. “She pointed a gun at my face and pulled the trigger,” he testified.
Fitzsimmons’ attorney, Tim Bradl, pushed back on his account. “You were treating this like a video game, weren’t you?” He asked Noonan, who denied the accusation.
The cross-examination turned contentious at times, with Bradl forcing Noonan to admit that he referred to the defendant as a “whack job” in a comment to his neighbor.
Bradl: “Is it possible you called her a ‘whack job’ to your neighbor?”
Noonan: “It’s possible.”
Bradl: “So that’s what you really think about Kelsey, is that she’s a whack job?”
Noonan: “After she tried to kill me.”
Bradl challenged Noonan about the way in which the entire incident was handled, beginning with allowing Fitzsimmons’ former fiance — the person who had taken out the restraining order on her — to be present in the home when it was served. Noonan denied any involvement in that part of the situation and maintained the incident was handled the way any other would have been.
Fitzsimmons waived her right to a jury and opted for a bench trial, which means Judge Jeffrey Karp will decide her fate at the close of the evidence.
