I noted the story of visiting Harvard Law Professor Carlos Portugal Gouvea. Having promoted gun control in Brazil, Professor Gouvea was arrested hunting rats in Brookline after security officers at a nearby temple heard him firing a pellet gun on the eve of Yom Kippur. In my post I think I condensed the relevant facts from three sources, including the Washington Free Beacon.
The Free Beacon follows up today in Andrew Kerr’s backgrounder “‘Rat Hunting’ Harvard Law School Professor Weaved His Way Through America’s Elite Institutions.” Kerr returns to the scene of the crime with an account that adds to the mystery of what transpired last week:
Gouvea broke a car window on Wednesday after firing at least two shots from his pellet rifle in the vicinity of the Brookline, Mass., synagogue Temple Beth Zion before fleeing from the synagogue’s two private security guards. Public records show Gouvea’s address is about a half-hour walk away from the synagogue, indicating he traveled some distance with the weapon. Law enforcement officers arrested Gouvea, who said he was “using the pellet rifle to hunt rats in the area,” and charged him with illegally discharging a pellet gun, disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, and malicious damage of personal property. Local police said Gouvea was not targeting the temple and it was “coincidental” his “rat hunting” took place in the vicinity of a synagogue on the most sacred day of the Jewish calendar, according to the Boston Herald.
Contrary to the impression I formed reading the initial stories, Gouvea was not at home when the security guards heard him shooting. It sounds like Gouvea was out hunting for small game with his pellet gun during the evening hours. Having run from the synagogue security officers, Gouvea was arrested when police searched the area.
The facts set forth by Kerr cannot easily be reconciled with the story police told officers of the synagogue (per the Harvard Crimson): “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.”
He didn’t live next to the synagogue. He was on a Hemingwayesque expedition.
According to Harvard Law School spokesman Jeff Neal, Professor Gouvea “has been placed on administrative leave as the school seeks to learn more about this matter.” What are the students in his “Sustainable Capitalism” and “Corruption and Inequality” courses to do? It may take some time to get Gouvea’s story straight. Dear Professor Vagistan, please call your office.
