Harvard Professor Who Fired Air Rifle Outside Brookline Synagogue Leaves US After ICE Arrest

By Josh Lanier From Daily Voice

A visiting Harvard Law School professor who admitted to firing an air rifle outside a Massachusetts synagogue has agreed to leave the United States after his arrest, federal authorities said.

Carlos Portugal Gouvêa, 43, of Brazil, pleaded guilty to illegally firing the gun outside Temple Beth Zion in Brookline on Oct. 2 during Yom Kippur. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said he told them he was “hunting rats” near the house of worship.

Gouvêa's temporary J-1 non-immigrant visa was revoked soon after the shooting. He chose to leave the country voluntarily rather than be deported, the Department of Homeland Security said.

“It is a privilege to work and study in the United States, not a right,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said. “There is no room in the United States for brazen, violent acts of anti-Semitism like this. They are an affront to our core principals [sic] as a country and an unacceptable threat against law-abiding American citizens.”

Despite the incident happening on the holiest night of the Jewish calendar outside a synagogue, Gouvêa has repeatedly said he is not antisemitic.

His attorney, Vikas S. Dhar, told the Boston Globe the circumstances were a "total misunderstanding of an entirely innocent situation,” and that his client was only shooting at rats with the gun.

Police said Gouvêa fired two shots outside the synagogue before private security confronted him. A police report said there was a “brief physical struggle” before he ran back into his nearby home. One shot shattered a car window.

The court dismissed charges of disturbing the peace, disorderly conduct and vandalizing property following his plea.

Gouvêa is an associate professor at the University of São Paulo Law School in Brazil, focusing on environment and social justice issues in Brazil, his bio on Harvard's website said.