BlackRock, the world’s largest money manager, said on Sunday that it had removed one of its ads from 2022 that featured Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old identified by authorities as the man who shot and injured former President Donald Trump.
The company told Bloomberg and Reuters that Crooks was a student who was briefly seen in the ad and was not paid for his appearance.
“In 2022, we ran an ad featuring a teacher from Bethel Park High School, in which several unpaid students briefly appeared in the background, including Thomas Matthew Crooks,” the company said in a statement to Reuters.
Crooks graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022 and was reported that year to have received a $500 award from the National Math and Science Initiative.
BlackRock gave neither outlet further information about the footage but told Bloomberg it would remove the ad from circulation and provide the clip to authorities.
The company also called the assassination attempt on Trump “abhorrent.”
Crooks appears briefly in a 30-second TV BlackRock ad featuring an AP and Honors Economics teacher at Bethel Park High School. In the clip, Crooks is seen in a classroom and appears to be speaking to the teacher.
BlackRock’s press teams did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.
Authorities said agents shot Crooks dead after he opened fire on Trump at a Saturday rally in Pennslyvania. Trump said later that his ear was struck by at least one bullet, causing it to bleed.
The FBI has designated the incident as an assassination attempt.
BlackRock, which oversees about $9.1 trillion in assets, is expected to release its Q2 earnings on July 15.
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