10:00 PM September 11th: Ambassador Stevens, security officer Scott Strickland, and information management officer Sean Smith make their way to a secure room as a large number of armed men shouting “Allāhu Akbar” toss grenades over the compound’s walls.
They enter the building with heavy weapons but cannot pry open the door to the secure room.
A U.S. quick reaction force is located one mile away and coming. Additional calls were made to the embassy in Tripoli, the State Department in Washington, and a pro-U.S. militia in the area.