Harvard professor agrees to depart country following pellet gun arrest

A Brazilian scholar, currently serving as a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, was detained by U.S. immigration authorities and faced charges for discharging a pellet gun outside a Massachusetts synagogue just before Yom Kippur.

Carlos Portugal Gouvea, an associate professor at So Paulo Law School, was teaching at Harvard for the fall semester. He was arrested on December 3 and chose to leave the U.S. voluntarily, avoiding deportation, as confirmed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Following the incident, the U.S. State Department revoked Gouveas temporary nonimmigrant visa, referring to the event as an anti-Semitic shooting incident, though local authorities have provided a different account of the situation.

Harmeet K. Dhillon, the chief of the U.S. Justice Departments Civil Rights Division, posted on social media: Do NOT mess with houses of worship or people of faith in this country. Not on this watch.

Gouvea was arrested after the Brookline, Massachusetts police received a report about a person carrying a firearm near Temple Beth Zion on October 1, the evening before Yom Kippur. In a report, Gouvea stated he had been hunting rats in the area at the time. Temple officials, however, have indicated that the incident did not appear to be driven by antisemitism, a view supported by the Brookline police, who conducted the investigation.

According to Harvard Crimson, the universitys student newspaper, synagogue leaders informed their congregants that Gouvea had told the police he was unaware that he was shooting his pellet gun near a synagogue or that it was a religious holiday.

In a resolution reached last month, Gouvea agreed to pay $386 in restitution and enter into a six-month pretrial probation arrangement for the charge of discharging a pellet gun illegally. As part of the agreement, other charges, including vandalism, disorderly conduct, and disturbing the peace, were dismissed.

This incident occurred amidst growing scrutiny of Harvard University by the Trump administration, which has pressured the school over accusations of insufficient protection for Jewish students on campus. Harvard has yet to comment on the matter.

Author: Chloe Ramirez