A striking image emerged from the immediate aftermath of the audacious crown jewels heist at the Louvre.

Paris-based Associated Press photographer Thibault Camus captured uniformed French police officers sealing off one of the museum's gates, their vehicle forming a barrier.

Instinctively, Camus framed a dapperly dressed young man walking past. He initially dismissed it as "not a particularly great photo," citing a shoulder obscuring the foreground.

Nevertheless, the photograph powerfully conveyed the scene: French police securing the world's most-visited museum after the brazen daylight robbery.

Plus, Camus figured, the guy walking past the officers was unusually well dressed, in a trench coat, a jacket and tie and wearing a fedora, adding a touch of Paris couture to the scene.

And so off went the photo to AP's worldwide audiences.

From there, fertile imaginations sprung into high gear -- whipping up an online buzz.

Posts on social media declared the well-dressed man to be a French detective -- if you will, a more dashing version of the famed Inspector Clouseau from "Pink Panther" movies -- even though AP's photo caption had not identified him.

It simply read: "Police officers block an access to the Louvre museum after a robbery Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025, in Paris."

A post on X that now has 5.6 million views says: "Actual shot (not AI!) of a French detective working the case of the French Crown Jewels that were stolen from the Louvre."

Another poster -- with 1.2 million followers -- claimed the man "who looks like he came out of a detective film noir from the 1940s is an actual French police detective who's investigating the theft."

Camus says nothing he saw led him to that conclusion -- the man was just someone who streamed away from the Louvre as authorities evacuated the area, Camus says.

"He appeared in front of me, I saw him, I took the photo," Camus says. "He passed by and left."

If the unidentified man really is one of the more than 100 investigators hunting for the jewel thieves, the authorities are keeping it very hush-hush.

"We'd rather keep the mystery alive ;)" the Paris prosecutor's office said with a wink in an email response to AP questions.

Paris prosecutor speaks out over mystery man in Louvre heist photo