Kelsey Fitzsimmons, off duty North Andover police officer shot while being served restraining order by fellow cops while resisting handing in gun. Mental health issues cited.
A female North Andover, Massachusetts police officer thought to be suffering a mental health crises is in stable condition, one day after she was shot by a fellow officer while being served with a restraining order.
The drama revolving around Kelsey Fitzsimmons a 28 year old crime justice graduate and new mother who had been in the force for a year and a half came while officers at the police department she worked at arrived at her residence after 6 p.m, Monday, to serve a court approved restraining order.
It was during the issuing of the order of protection as Fitzsimmons was being escorted by one of the officers that an ‘armed confrontation’ took place Essex County District Attorney Paul Tucker announced during a Tuesday news conference.
Off duty North Andover police officer shot refusing to hand in weapon
According to the release, three North Andover police officers, one of them a supervisor, had gone to the police officer’s home to carry out the restraining order when an ‘armed confrontation’ took place leading to one of the responding officers discharging their weapon, striking Fitzsimmons once, the DA told reporters.
Fitzsimmons, who was off-duty, was rushed to a hospital in Boston on a medical rescue helicopter.
The DA didn’t say where she was shot along with declining to comment on Fitzsimmons’s mental health.
‘We don’t know how long she’ll be treated,’ Tucker said.
Tucker said Fitzsimmons was on administrative leave at the time and that the leave will now be extended. She had filed to have her service weapon returned to her during her leave. North Andover Police Chief Charles Gray would not comment on that, calling it a ‘personnel matter.’
The officer who fired the shot has not been identified, but the district attorney said he’s been with the department for more than 20 years.
Kelsey Fitzsimmons mental health issues
When asked directly if Fitzsimmons was armed during the incident, Tucker said, ‘The very granular details, we’re waiting to speak on until we get the interviews back from our state police detectives who are speaking with the North Andover officers that were involved.’
‘We’re concerned for all the officers, on-duty and off-duty, and we’re just going to monitor and hopefully get some results,’ said Chief Gray.
When asked if officers were going to take Fitzsimmons’s service weapon during the incident, Tucker said, ‘The restraining order was a standard 209A filed by the plaintiff and served by the North Andover officers.’
‘Pursuant to the court order, one of the standard boxes to check is retrieval of any firearms in the home. That’s standard operating,’ the district attorney said.
No video of the incident existed according to Tucker.
But there’s more.
In the abuse prevention order obtained by WBZ-TV, North Andover Police were on notice that serving Fitzsimmons a restraining order could be dangerous.
‘Defendant is an officer with a license to carry. Plaintiff expressed concerns regarding Defendant’s reaction to being served,’ said a handwritten note in the court document.
Of note, Fitzsimmons got engaged late last year and has a baby boy, according to her social media.
Not immediately clear is who filed to have the restraining order issued and why.
