HLS Visiting Professor Placed on Leave After Arrest For Firing Pellet Gun Near Brookline Synagogue

Updated October 5, 2025, at 3:44 p.m.

A visiting professor at Harvard Law School was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation after allegedly firing a pellet gun outside of a Brookline synagogue on the eve of Yom Kippur.

Carlos Portugal Gouvea was arrested on Wednesday after he allegedly fired two shots outside Temple Beth Zion in Brookline, according to a report from local outlet Brookline.News. Gouvea was charged in Brookline District Court with illegally discharging a pellet gun, disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, and vandalizing property, according to a public court docket.

The incident drew a response from more than a dozen police as Yom Kippur — the holiest day of the Jewish calendar — began Wednesday night. Two private security guards allegedly attempted to detain Gouvea before the police arrived, leading to a “brief physical struggle,” Brookline.News reported.

Gouvea, who told police he was hunting rats, pleaded not guilty to all charges on Thursday, according to Brookline.News. He was released on personal recognizance until a hearing in early November, according to the court docket. Gouvea and his attorney did not respond to a Saturday evening request for comment.

Larry Kraus and Benjamin Maron, the synagogue’s president and executive director, wrote that the synagogue’s leadership “have no reason to believe this was an antisemitic event” in a Sunday morning email to Temple Beth Zion affiliates, which was obtained by The Crimson.

Brookline police told synagogue leaders that Gouvea “was unaware that he lived next to, and was shooting his BB gun next to, a synagogue or that it was a religious holiday,” Kraus and Maron wrote.

“It was potentially dangerous to use a BB gun in such a populated spot,” they added, “but it does not appear to have been fueled by antisemitism.”

The Crimson was unable to independently review the police report because the Brookline Police Department’s records division is closed on weekends.

Gouvea is also an associate professor at the University of São Paulo Law School and leads a Brazilian think tank that researches social and environmental justice, according to its website. Gouvea graduated from Harvard Law School with a doctorate in 2008.

HLS spokesperson Jeff Neal wrote that Gouvea “has been placed on administrative leave as the school seeks to learn more about this matter.” Gouvea has not been the subject of formal disciplinary action.

—Staff writer Matan H. Josephy can be reached at matan.josephy@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @matanjosephy.

—Staff writer Laurel M. Shugart can be reached at laurel.shugart@thecrimson.com. Follow them on X @laurelmshugart.