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.