Harvard Puts Visiting USP Professor on Leave After Pellet Gun Shots Near Brookline Synagogue

Overview

• Temple Beth Zion staff locked down the building on Yom Kippur after two loud shots were heard outside, and no injuries were reported.
• Police say an air/pellet rifle damaged a parked car, with a pellet recovered inside the vehicle near the synagogue in Brookline, Massachusetts.
• Carlos Portugal Gouvêa was arrested outside his nearby residence after a brief encounter with private security who had seen him holding the rifle.
• He was charged with illegal discharge of an air weapon, disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, and malicious destruction of property, then arraigned and released pending an early November court date.
• Gouvêa told officers he was hunting rats, and synagogue leaders said the incident does not appear antisemitic based on initial information from police.