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at rats when he fired a pellet gun near a synagogue during Yom Kippur has left the United States after his visa was revoked, federal officials and his lawyer confirmed on Thursday.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.
FILE - The gates of Harvard Yard at Harvard University, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)
BERLIN (AP) — Germany and Austria said Wednesday they are releasing parts of their oil reserves following an International Energy Agency request for members to release a record 400 million barrels to help temper energy price spikes due to the Iran war.
Japan also said it will release some of its reserves starting Monday.
Group of Seven energy ministers met Tuesday at IEA headquarters in Paris to look at ways to bring down prices that have risen because of the Iran war. IEA executive director Fatih Birol said afterward that they discussed all available options, including making IEA emergency oil stocks available to the market.
The largest-ever previous collective release of emergency stocks by IEA member countries was 182.7 million barrels, in the wake of the energy shock prompted by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The reserves were established in 1974 following the Arab oil embargo.
IEA members currently hold over 1.2 billion barrels of public emergency oil stocks, with a further 600 million barrels of industry stocks held under government obligation.
It was not immediately clear how much Germany and Austria were releasing.
The Group of Seven is comprised of the leading industrialized nations of Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan, Germany and Britain. Austria is not a member. Leaders of the G7 were set to hold a meeting via videoconference later Wednesday to discuss energy issues.
Germany’s economy minister Katherina Reiche said the country would release parts of its oil reserves following the IEA request “to release oil reserves amounting to 400 million barrels, which is a good 54 million tons.”
She said it would take a couple of days before the delivery of the first quantities.
“Germany stands behind the IEA’s most important principle of mutual solidarity," Reiche said.
In response to U.S. and Israeli strikes, Iran has attacked commercial ships across the Persian Gulf, escalating a campaign of squeezing the oil-rich region as global energy concerns mount. Iran has effectively stopped cargo traffic in the Strait of Hormuz through which about a fifth of all oil is shipped from the Persian Gulf toward the Indian Ocean.
Iran has also targeted oil fields and refineries in Gulf Arab nations, aiming at generating enough global economic pain to pressure the United States and Israel to end their strikes. Reports of sea mines allegedly laid by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz have also fueled concerns about the security of international energy supplies.
G7 energy ministers on Tuesday announced they supported in principle “the implementation of proactive measures to address the situation, including the use of strategic reserves.”
According to the IEA, export volumes of crude and refined products are currently at less than 10% of prewar levels.
Austrian Economy Minister Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer said his country was releasing part of the emergency oil reserve and extending the national strategic gas reserve, adding: “One thing is clear: in a crisis, there must be no crisis winners at the expense of commuters and businesses.”
The German government also said it will introduce a measure to allow gas stations in Germany to raise fuel prices no more than once a day. The federal government wants to introduce this as quickly as possible, Reiche said.
In Austria, starting Monday, price increases at gas stations will be allowed only three times a week, the country’s economy minister said.
Oil reserves have been tapped when the market has faced major disruption in the past, including wars in Iraq, Libya and, most recently, Ukraine.
Petrequin reported from Paris.
Big oil tanks are pictured in front the BP refinery in Gelsenkirchen, one of the biggest fuel producers in Germany, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Big oil tanks are pictured in front of the BP refinery in Gelsenkirchen, one of the biggest fuel producers in Germany, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
FILE - Fishermen work in front of oil tankers south of the Strait of Hormuz Jan. 19, 2012, offshore the town of Ras Al Khaimah in United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, File)
Smoke rises from a building following an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburb, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Signs show the gas prices at a gas station, Tuesday, March 10, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
