On July 2 , 1881 , the MPD took part in investigating the assassination of President James A. Garfield . The assassin , Charles J. Guiteau , approached Garfield at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station and fired his weapon twice , hitting Garfield . Though Garfield had no bodyguards , MPD Officer Patrick Kearney had been nearby and arrested Guiteau before he could leave the station . Kearney took Guiteau a few blocks away to the station to be booked where the small pistol that Guiteau had used was discovered inside his jacket pocket . The officials at the station at first refused to believe Kearney 's claims that Guiteau had shot the president . The detective blotter would note the shooting , investigation , and arrest as well as Garfield 's death several weeks later
assassination
Assassination of James A. Garfield
Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia