Harvard professor leaves US after arrest with pellet gun near synagogue, said he was hunting rats

BOSTON (AP) — A Harvard visiting law professor from Brazil who told police he was shooting at rats when he fired a pellet gun near a synagogue during Yom Kippur has left the United States after his visa was revoked, federal officials and his lawyer confirmed on Thursday.

After Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Carlos Portugal Gouvêa on Wednesday, officials said he agreed to depart the United States voluntarily instead of being deported. He arrived in Brazil on Thursday, according to a statement from his attorney, Joseph D. Eisenstadt.

Homeland Security officials described the incident in October as antisemitic, but in a social media post days afterward, Temple Beth Zion in the Boston metropolitan area town of Brookline said it did not appear to be motivated by antisemitism. Police initially told the synagogue that “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. We were told he said he was shooting rats.”

In a statement, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin called working and studying in the United States a privilege, “not a right.”

“There is no room in the United States for brazen, violent acts of anti-Semitism like this,” she said, calling it an “affront” the the nation’s core principles and “an unacceptable threat against law-abiding American citizens.”

According to the Brookline Police’s arrest report, law enforcement was called to Temple Beth Zion for a report of a “person with a gun” just after 9 p.m. on Oct. 1 during Yom Kippur, considered the holiest day for Jews who spend it seeking to atone for sins and seek forgiveness.

Private security assigned to guard the temple during holiday services said they’d heard “at least two loud shots fired” and spotted Gouvêa behind a tree holding a pellet rifle, according to the report.

An officer began to approach Gouvêa and the professor set the pellet gun down against the tree before “the two began to get in a brief physical struggle, falling to the ground after Mr. Gouvêa lunged towards the rifle,” the arrest report reads.

According to the arrest report, Gouvêa told officers he used the pellet gun to “hunt rats” in his neighborhood.

Gouvêa initially pleaded not guilty to three misdemeanor and one felony charges: illegally discharging a BB/pellet gun, vandalism, disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace.

David Linton, spokesperson for Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey, said all charges against Gouvêa but the misdemeanor illegal BB/pellet gun discharge charge were dismissed last month.

As part of a plea agreement, Gouvêa was placed on pretrial probation for six months on the one charge and was ordered to pay restitution of $386.59 to a person whose car window he broke with a pellet. He did not change his plea from not guilty.

After the six months, if he doesn’t break any laws, that final count will be dismissed administratively. Gouvêa will not be required to go before a judge.

DHS said Gouvêa’s J-1 visa, a nonimmigrant visas for people participating in exchange visitor programs, was revoked by the State Department on Oct. 16 following “an anti-Semitic shooting incident in October.”

Harvard Law School’s website lists Gouvêa as a visiting professor of law for the fall 2025 semester. He was teaching two courses: Corruption and Inequality Seminar: Unraveling the Vicious Circle and Sustainable Capitalism. The site says Gouvêa is an associate professor at the University of São Paulo Law School and CEO of the Global Law Institute, a think tank on environmental and social justice in Brazil.

Harvard did not have a comment on Gouvêa’s case.

In a statement after Gouvêa’s arrest in October, University of São Paulo’s Law School Director Celso Fernandes Campilongo repudiated “the malicious and distorted insinuations” against Gouvêa, noting his history of advocating for human rights and his affinities, including family ties, to the Jewish community.

__ Brumfield reported from Cockeysville, Maryland. AP journalist Gabriela Sá Pessoa contributed from São Paulo, Brazil.