BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest asset manager, has pulled an ad that briefly featured Thomas Crooks, the 20-year-old suspect who shot and wounded former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
The company said Crooks, a student at Bethel Park High School, appeared in the 2022 ad alongside other unpaid teenagers.
“In 2022, we ran an advert featuring teachers at Bethel Park High School, with several unpaid students, including Thomas Matthew Crooks, appearing briefly in the background,” the company said in a statement to Reuters on Sunday, adding that the advert had been taken down.
BlackRock’s 30-second TV ad features the Associated Press and honors economics class Crooks was attending at the time, with the would-be Trump assassin talking to the teacher.
Crooks graduated from Bethel Park High School the same year the ad aired, where he was one of 12 students to receive the National Math and Science Initiative Star Award. According to the Pittsburgh Tribune Review:.
The company noted that although the ad has been removed from circulation, it is still publicly available for investigators to review and is still circulating on social media.
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BlackRock, which is due to report second-quarter results on Monday, condemned the shooting on Saturday against the former president, which left one spectator dead and two wounded.
““The assassination attempt against former President Trump is abhorrent,” the company said.
“We are thankful that former President Trump was not seriously injured and we think of the innocent bystanders and victims of this horrific act, especially those who lost their lives.”
The company did not immediately respond to The Washington Post’s request for further comment.
BlackRock, which manages an estimated $9.1 trillion in assets, has faced backlash after past mass shootings in the US because some of its index funds hold shares in gun manufacturers.
With post wire
