It was shortly after the stunning heist of the crown jewels at the Louvre when Paris-based Associated Press photographer Thibault Camus caught in his frame a dapperly dressed young man walking by uniformed French police officers. Instinctively, he took the shot.

It shows French police sealing off the world’s most-visited museum after the brazen daylight robbery Oct. 19. The guy walking past the officers was unusually well dressed, in a coat, jacket and tie and wearing a fedora.

And off went the photo to AP’s worldwide audiences. From there, fertile imaginations sprang into high gear — whipping up an online buzz. Posts on social media declared the man to be a French detective — if you will, a more dashing version of the famed Inspector Clouseau from the Pink Panther movies — even though AP’s photo caption had not identified him.

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.”

The Paris prosecutor’s office, when asked by AP about the man, said by email: “We’d rather keep the mystery alive :)”