- The Trump rally shooter appeared briefly in a 2022 ad, according to BlackRock.
- BlackRock said Thomas Matthew Crooks “appeared in the background” of the adverts but was not paid.
- Crooks can be seen in the 30-second ad, which focuses on an AP Economics teacher at Bethel Park High School.
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, said Sunday it had removed one of its 2022 ads featuring Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old suspect identified by authorities as the man who shot and wounded former President Donald Trump.
The company told Bloomberg and Reuters that Crooks was a student who appeared briefly in the ad and was not paid for appearing in it.
“In 2022, we ran an ad featuring a teacher at Bethel Park High School in which several unpaid students, including Thomas Matthew Crooks, appeared briefly in the background,” the company said in a statement to Reuters.
Crooks will graduate from Bethel Park High School in 2022, and was reported to have received a $500 award from the National Mathematics and Science Initiative that year.
BlackRock did not provide further details about the footage to either media outlet, but told Bloomberg it would halt advertising and provide the footage to authorities.
The company also called the assassination attempt on President Trump “abhorrent.”
Crooks appears briefly in a 30-second BlackRock TV ad featuring an AP and honors economics teacher at Bethel Park High School. In the clip, Crooks appears to be in a classroom and talking to the teacher.
BlackRock’s public relations team did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by Business Insider outside regular business hours.
Authorities said Crooks was shot and killed by agents after he opened fire on Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, with Trump later saying at least one bullet struck him in the ear, leaving him bleeding.
The FBI classified the incident as an assassination attempt.
BlackRock, which manages about $9.1 trillion in assets, is scheduled to report its second-quarter results on July 15.
