A visiting professor at Harvard Law School has been placed on administrative leave after he was arrested for firing a pellet rifle outside a Brookline synagogue on the eve of Yom Kippur.

Security guards confronted Carlos Portugal Gouvea on Wednesday after hearing two loud shots and seeing him with a rifle near Temple Beth Zion on Beacon Street. A brief struggle broke out when they tried to detain him, and Gouvea fled into his nearby home, according to court documents. He emerged moments later and was arrested by more than a dozen responding officers.

Police later found a shattered car window with a pellet lodged inside the vehicle. Gouvea told authorities he was “hunting rats,” though investigators say they found no evidence the synagogue itself was targeted. Harvard Law School spokesperson Jeff Neal told The Post that Gouvea “has been placed on administrative leave as the school seeks to learn more about this matter.”