Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, shakes hands with Libyan National Transitional Council chair Mustafa Abdel Jalil on July 6, 2012: Stevens was killed in an attack on his vehicle on Sept. 11.

REUTERS/Ismail Zetounipher

he U.S. Ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, was killed as he was being rushed away from the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi after Islamists stormed the building late Tuesday, according to Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Mustafa Abushagour. Stevens reportedly was being driven to a safer place when gunmen attacked his car with rockets, killing him and three members of the embassy staff who were riding with him. On Wednesday, President Obama condemned the attack. "Chris was a courageous and exemplary representative of the United States," the president said in a statement. "Throughout the Libyan revolution, he selflessly served our country and the Libyan people." The violence reportedly erupted over YouTube clips of a film, promoted by Koran-burning Florida pastor Terry Jones, that depicts the Prophet Mohammed as a womanizer, pedophile, and killer. The film also prompted several Egyptians to scale the wall of the U.S. embassy in Cairo and replace the U.S. flag with a black flag bearing the words "There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his messenger."