Overview
- Essex County Judge Jeffrey Karp, who issued the verdict Thursday, ruled prosecutors did not prove that Fitzsimmons aimed her gun at Officer Patrick Noonan.
- Prosecutors said the gun’s magazine count and a round found in the chamber showed she racked the slide and pointed at Noonan, while Fitzsimmons testified she lifted the weapon to her own head during a suicide attempt.
- Karp highlighted the absence of body-camera video as a key gap that weakened the Commonwealth’s case in the four-day bench trial.
- Fitzsimmons was shot in the chest on June 30, 2025 as officers served a restraining order obtained by her then‑fiancé, and she later spent more than 50 days hospitalized and roughly 100 days in jail before release.
- After the acquittal, Fitzsimmons said she will work to reunite with her child as the district attorney’s office said it disagrees with the ruling, and her legal team signaled possible civil action with a child-custody hearing set for next month.