Harvard professor charged with firing pellet gun outside Brookline temple arrested by ICE

Federal immigration officials have arrested a visiting Harvard Law School professor from Brazil, who recently resolved allegations that he illegally fired a pellet gun outside a Brookline synagogue.

Carlos Portugal Gouvêa, 47, had his visa revoked Oct. 16 following his initial arrest, the Department of Homeland Security said in a news release. On Wednesday, nearly two months later, agents from the Boston U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office arrested Gouvêa again, and he agreed to leave the country voluntarily rather than be deported, according to DHS. 

Per his Oct. 1 arrest report, Gouvêa told Brookline police he was using the pellet rifle to hunt rats near Temple Beth Zion, where worshippers were marking the start of Yom Kippur. 

He was charged with illegally discharging a BB gun or air rifle, disorderly conduct, vandalism, and disturbing the peace, though prosecutors dropped the latter three charges last month as part of a plea agreement. For the remaining count, Gouvêa agreed to serve six months of pretrial probation and pay $386.59 in restitution after one of his pellets broke a window on a nearby parked car.

Gouvêa pleaded not guilty, and a spokesperson for the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office previously told Boston.com no change of plea is taken in a case that is disposed through pretrial probation. 

However, the DHS press release makes reference to a “guilty plea” and describes the incident as an “anti-Semitic shooting,” contrary to statements from local authorities and Temple Beth Zion leadership. In fact, synagogue leaders specifically wrote in an open letter that they had “no reason to believe this was an antisemitic event.” 

“From what we were initially told by police, the individual was unaware that he lived next to, and was shooting his BB gun next to, a synagogue or that it was a religious holiday,” the letter states. “It was potentially dangerous to use a BB gun in such a populated spot, but it does not appear to have been fuelled [sic] by antisemitism.” 

An attorney who previously represented Gouvêa also said earlier that the incident was “a total misunderstanding” and that the professor “categorically denies” his actions were motivated by antisemitism. Further, a Harvard Chabad rabbi told attendees at an October event that Gouvêa’s wife and children are Jewish, The Harvard Crimson reported.

Still, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin doubled down on the antisemitism claims. 

“There is no room in the United States for brazen, violent acts of anti-Semitism like this,” she said in a statement. “They are an affront to our core principals as a country and an unacceptable threat against law-abiding American citizens. We are under zero obligation to admit foreigners who commit these inexplicably reprehensible acts or to let them stay here.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem “has made it clear that anyone who thinks they can come to America and commit anti-American and anti-Semitic violence and terrorism should think again,” McLaughlin added. “You are not welcome here.” 

According to his Harvard Law School faculty page, Gouvêa is an associate professor at the University of São Paulo Law School in Brazil and CEO of the Brazilian think tank Global Law Institute. The Harvard Law website lists him as a visiting professor teaching two courses for the fall semester, though the school’s academic calendar indicates fall classes ended prior to the Thanksgiving break.

Abby Patkin is a general assignment news reporter whose work touches on public transit, crime, health, and everything in between.