Harvard Law’s visiting professor, Carlos Gouvea, allegedly used a pellet rifle to shoot out a car windshield last Wednesday night in Brookline.
According to police, the visiting scholar fired two shots near Temple Beth Zion around 9 p.m.
The shots triggered a lockdown inside the synagogue where patrons were celebrating the start of Yom Kippur.
(Temple Beth Zion released a Facebook post telling its followers that there’s “no reason to believe this was an antisemitic event.”)
After hearing the shots, the synagogue’s security guard went outside to investigate and allegedly saw Gouvea behind a tree.
The guard says that he attempted to detain Gouvea but the professor fled from the scene and returned to his nearby residence.
Brookline police eventually nabbed Gouvea.
According to police, Gouvea told investigators that he used the pellet gun to hunt rodents in the neighborhood.
Apparently the rodent-hunting story didn’t satisfy police.
Gouvea is now charged with
- Vandalizing property (a felony);
- Discharging a BB gun/air rifle on a public way;
- Disorderly conduct; and
- Disturbing the peace.
Havard Law’s website boasts that Gouvea is a founding member of Brazil’s Instituto Sou da Paz, an organization that campaigned for the enactment of the federal Gun Control Act of 2003.
He was arraigned last Thursday in Brookline District Court. His next court hearing is scheduled for November 6.