Ambassador Stevens family, friends mourn death | News

SACRAMENTO, CA -Intelligence experts now believe the attack that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans was not due to spontaneous anger over an anti-muslim YouTube video.

It's believed that they were victims of a planned attack and an Al Qaida affiliate group is taking responsibility.

Ambassador Chris Stevens went to grade school and middle school in Davis before moving to the Bay Area for high school.

After he graduated from Cal Berkeley, he joined the Peace Corps in 1983, and served in Morocco.

Among those who remember him dearly, a gallery owner and childhood friend, John Natsoulas.

"I knew him throughout my life and I lost a part of myself today. And I lost someone who actually unconditionally loved just about everybody," Natsoulas said.

Stevens went to to Emerson Junior High in Davis. An old yearbook features Stevens' 9th grade picture. He was on the yearbook staff as well as the newspaper staff and he was also in band.

Former junior high classmate Tanya Noda said she was "flabbergasted" and "dumbfounded" by the Ambassador's death.

"This is a profound loss. This was a person of real consequence," Noda said.

Stevens' dad is a former Assistant State Attorney General. He lives in Loomis and still practices law.

A family member told News10 that Steven's dad and step-mom were out of the country when Stevens death was made public.

By Suzanne Phan, sphan@news10.net