Carlos Portugal Gouvea was, at very least, curious. “Harvard professor suspended after allegedly firing pellet gun near Brookline synagogue,” Jerusalem Post, October 6, 2025:
A visiting Harvard Law School professor has been placed on leave after he was arrested for allegedly firing a pellet gun near a Brookline synagogue as an important Jewish holiday was getting underway last week.
Brookline police arrested Carlos Portugal Gouvea, an Associate Professor at the University of São Paulo Law School in Brazil, working at Harvard University, after the professor was allegedly seen shooting a pellet rifle in the vicinity of Temple Beth Zion on Wednesday. Yom Kippur, generally considered the holiest day of the year in Judaism, had officially begun that evening.
Police say Portugal Gouvea was spotted by a private security guard who working at the synagogue after the guard heard “at least two loud shots fired.”
“[The guard] then looked uphill and saw Mr. Gouvêa behind a large tree holding the pellet rifle. He approached the suspect and he set the rifle down against the tree. [The guard] attempted to detain the suspect, and the two began to get in a brief physical struggle, falling to the ground after Mr. Gouvêa lunged towards the rifle. The suspect then ran into his residence,” officers wrote in a redacted police report shared with the Herald.
If, as he later insisted, he had only been “shooting at rats,” then why did he try to resist when a security guard tried to detain him? Why did he not then explain that he had only been“ shooting rats”? Instead, after having initially put down his rifle when approached by the security guard, he then “lunged toward his rifle,” but failed to seize it and instead, ran into his apartment. Why did he run away?
The security officer was able to secure the pellet rifle and handed it to arriving Brookline police officers.
When police approached Portugal Gouvea at his home, he allegedly admitted to shooting the pellet gun, but claimed he was using it to “hunt rats,” according to the police report. Portugal Gouvêa “was advised that it was unsafe to do so and to be aware of the alarm he had caused,” according to police.
Officers say he was compliant when they took him into custody. After his arrest, officers noticed that one of the pellet rounds fired by Portugal Gouvêa had pierced the window of a car parked “directly next door to the Temple.” After searching the car, police “located what is believed to be the metal pellet round that was fired by Mr. Gouvêa inside the passenger side front window.”…
How plausible is that story? That he just happened to be “hunting rats” right outside the synagogue, just as the services on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, were beginning? And if he had been “shooting at rats,” why did he aim at the window of a car parked right in front of the synagogue, and that he might have assumed it belonged to the rabbi or one of the congregants? How often do we see rats managing to jump inside cars with their windows rolled up?
Brookline Police Deputy Superintendent Paul Campbell told the Herald on Sunday that their initial investigations have not led police to believe that Portugal Gouvea’s shots were aimed at the synagogue or its congregation.
“From what we know, it does not appear this was related to the Temple or an instance of antisemitism. The proximity to the Temple and the timing ( Yom Kippur) appear to be coincidental ( Mr. Gouvea lives in the area),” Campbell said in an email.
How does Deputy Superintendent Campbell know that Gouvea’s shot, or possibly two shots, were not “related to the Temple”? Isn’t it likely that he shot at the car’s window to leave the bullet hole as a sinister reminder to its owner that not everyone wished him, or his fellow congregants, well? He didn’t have to aim at the synagogue itself to make his point. The window was smashed, the bullet was inside the car, and he could have gotten away with it had not an alert security guard spotted him and his rifle. He tried to detain Gouvea, who managed to run into his apartment, but when the Brookline police arrived and he emerged, he was ready with his quick fiction — “I was only shooting rats.” Uh-huh.
Well, if Harvard hasn’t taken leave of its senses, it will take not take this case as lightly as the Brookline Police Department. To sum up: Carlos Portugal Gouvea was found by a security guard, holding a rifle just outside a synagogue. After running away from that guard to his apartment, he then emerged to insist he had only been “firing at rats.” Then a car parked just beside the synagogue, that he must have assumed belonged to one of the congregants inside, was found to have a bullet hole in one of its windows, fired from his rifle. When he aimed at that window, could he really have been aiming at “rats”?
Wellington says
Part of a larger problem and that is that Harvard now sucks and why anyone any longer wanting to send their child to Harvard is participating in a kind of child abuse.
Maybe Harvard, once a great institution of higher learning but replete with so many negatives presently that it has become a laughing stock. can make a comeback but that’s about as likely as the Democratic Party making a comeback—or the MSM—or academia in general from pre-school and kindergarten through graduate school—or even professional sports. All possible but beyond a certain point there is no return.
Time will tell. It always does.
James Lincoln says
Wellington says,
“..why anyone any longer wanting to send their child to Harvard is participating in a kind of child abuse.”
Unbelievably, in 2025, that is a true statement.
Ruth E weekly says
So are they going to arrested? How much time will he do? Will he loose his good job? The police most likely say they are sorry and let him go.When it comes to terrorists they are treated like important people.
Wellington says
Only for terrorists on the Left, respecting which there are far more than can be found on the Right, lies by academic, governmental and media sources averring to the contrary.
We actually have come to a point in America whereby Leftist terrorists, for instance the total losers in Antifa, are accorded far more deference by the pathetic Portland Oregon police department than are conservative journalists attempting to cover these Leftists losers.
somehistory says
“hunting rats,” code for wanting to shoot Jews who might be attending Synagogue.
and he’s a “law professor.” Imagine what kind of “law” his students will learn.
gravenimage says
Yes–the Nazis referred to Jews as “rats”, and had a film, “Der Ewige Jude” (The Eternal Jew”), which explicitly compares Jews to rats and other vermin. This was *not* an accident. How many rats are you apt to find in upscale Brookline?
rick says
I betcha that if a conversation continued and someone asked him don’t you think shooting so near a synagogue is dangerous and illegal? He would probably response with “Rats don’t have any security from being shot as they have no legal rights”?
We know who the rats really are. It’s also a four letter word.
Taffy says
In Massachusetts, there are no legal restrictions on buying a pellet gun, except that one has to be 18 years old. On the other hand, shooting one in a populated area is a crime. Also, vandalizing cars is a crime. Finally, a pellet gun sounds like a gunshot from a .22 rifle and would probably cause panic among those nearby.
One has to be a jackass of the nth degree to shoot a pellet gun in a populated area to vandalize a car. The synagogue aspect of this crime can never be proved unless he admits to it, but nonetheless Harvard should dismiss this one from his professorial duties.
James Lincoln says
Taffy,
And I have seen some pellet guns that sure do look like the real thing.
That Harvard “professor” could have gotten himself killed.
tgusa says
The boy from Brazil…with a pellet gun. Yep, he has the brains of a Harvard professor.
WPM says
Have a real look rifle and shooting it near a religious building on a high Holy day when it is full of people milling in and out ,a good way to get your self shot by the authorities. Lefty professions are stupidly dangerous to themselves and everyone around them. There are stories every year about stupid kids playing with real looking pellet guns in public parks getting shot by police by mistake ,but this guy is an adult teaching at Harvard? He could have won a Darwin award for his activity .
skeptiker says
Und sowas nennt sich Elite-Universität. Da werden zukünftige Führungskräfte ausgebildet, sagt man.
Im “bösen” Rußland wäre es undenkbar, dass solche ideologisch verpeilten Leute als Lehrkräfte auf die Studenten losgelassen werden.
Die amerikanischen Universitäten sind die Brutstätten für Rassismus, Marxismus und Antisemitismus. Vergleichbar mit den Moscheen, wo gewohnheitsmäßig junge Männer für den Dschihad rekrutiert werden.
gravenimage says
+1
Winston 101 says
The infamous Nazi propaganda film “The Eternal Jew” portrayed Jews as swarms of rats.
Perhaps this professor from Brazil was inspired by a past screening of the film in one of the Nazi
enclaves in Brazil.
Makes more sense than his ridiculous story.
Furthermore, should the professor have been at least charged with vandalism? Property damage?
OLD GUY says
It is amazing how dumb some of these professors can be. Not only is he a professor he is a law school professor and should know the use of a fire arm “pellet Rifle” is illegal to shoot in a populated area. I own a 22 caliber pellet rifle and I’ll guarantee it can be deadly a closer ranges.
WPM says
There are high end very powerful pellet rifle that can take down deer ,just go on the internet and look them up. They do not have the range of regular rifles but some at 40-50 yards are more then capable of killing full grown adults .They cost three to five thousand dollars easily three to four times the cost of a budge bolt action hunting rifle with a just OK scope, but they do exist .Pointing a weapon and terrorizing people entering a house of worship should get you arrest and fired from a job of teaching young people at any school ,or entrusting you to work with children in any employment.
David says
“Shooting at rats” is this POS Harvard professor’s (do I repeat myself) way of saying he was shooting at Jews. That is the clear implication of his conduct and statement, and there is no other plausible explanation. Of course he should be fired from his position at Harvard, and Harvard should make sure to contact the authorities in Brazil, especially whatever is the Bar licensing entity down there. If he has a Bar license for any U.S. jurisdiction, or admittance to practice in any court, those should also be informed (good character is required for both). In addition, the owner of the car should sue him. More speculatively, if anyone in or just outside the synagogue heard the shots and was frightened, they may have a claim for intentional or negligent infliction of emotional distress.
gravenimage says
Harvard Professor Arrested for Firing Pellet Gun Just Outside Synagogue
………………………………………
“Hunting rats”, huh? What vicious claptrap.
Carlos Portugal Gouvea has links to DEI. More on his background here:
https://freebeacon.com/campus/rat-hunting-harvard-law-school-professor-weaved-his-way-through-americas-elite-institutions/
tgusa says
“Hunting rats”, huh? What vicious claptrap.”
Totally. Even back in the day when I lived in the Southern California suburbs we had rats in the area that would come in to my backyard. Never once did I break out my bb / pellet gun and try to shoot them. I never owned a pellet / bb gun until I had a son (too weak not interesting to me). Bought it for him at 10. Taught him how to shoot. We graduated to bigger guns as time went on.
tgusa says
I left it up to my cat to deal with the rats and he did. I just hated cleaning the remains off my back door mat.