Jonah Elkowitz / Shutterstock.com
BlackRock, a big American investment company, had to pull a TV ad. The ad featured someone who tried to hurt President Donald Trump.
Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, was in the ad filmed at his high school.
BlackRock said to Fox Business, “The assassination attempt on former President Trump is abhorrent.” They are thankful Trump wasn’t badly hurt and are thinking of all the innocent bystanders and victims, especially the person who died.
Their leadership team communicated to colleagues: BlackRock condemns political violence and aims to promote civility and unity.
In 2022, they ran an ad with a teacher from Bethel Park High School. Some unpaid students appeared briefly in the background, including Thomas Matthew Crooks.
BlackRock will make all video footage available to authorities. They’ve removed the video out of respect for the victims.
According to Forbes, Crooks’ former classmates remember him as a quiet loner. He was often bullied and even called a “school shooter.”
One classmate described him as an outcast. Another mentioned he was teased for poor hygiene and body odor. A third classmate was puzzled by his actions against Trump, noting, “He definitely was conservative… It makes me wonder why he would carry out an assassination attempt on the conservative candidate?”
Crooks tried out for his high school’s rifle team but didn’t make it. He missed targets by about 20 feet and was considered a terrible shot.
He was shot and killed by Secret Service after firing eight shots with a legally purchased AR-style rifle at Trump’s rally on Sunday. Identified posthumously using DNA and biometric info, the FBI also found explosive materials at his home now being evaluated at their lab.
