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Now that’s arresting style.
A man who stepped into a photo taken outside the Louvre in Paris amid the investigation into the recent brazen crown jewels heist at the famous museum has gone viral.
The mystery man, who was dressed in a three-piece suit with a dark-colored jacket and a gold vest topped with a fedora and an umbrella used as a walking stick, had social media buzzing, comparing him to Inspector Clouseau from the “Pink Panther” and Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot.
Many seemed to believe that the dashing man was the chief inspector on the case, while some even speculated his dapper appearance hinted at an elegant criminal who was involved in the heist somehow.
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One X user wrote of the photo: “Actual shot (not AI!) of a French detective working the case of the French Crown Jewels that were stolen from the Louvre” and another 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.”
A third wrote: “The detective working the Louvre Jewel heist is the guy in the fedora. Do the French do everything better.”
But the Associated Press photographer who snapped the curious shot last Sunday claimed that he had no reason to believe the man had anything to do with the Louvre investigation, but rather he was just someone who stepped into the frame.
The photographer, Thibault Camus, told his outlet he believed the man added a bit of Parisian je ne sais quoi — “I don’t know what” — to his photos.
“He appeared in front of me, I saw him, I took the photo,” Camus says. “He passed by and left.”
Parisian authorities also decided to add a little French intrigue to the mystery when asked by AP if they could identify the man.
“We’d rather keep the mystery alive ;)” the Paris prosecutor’s office answered.
Last Sunday morning, four masked criminals stole several priceless pieces from the Louvre’s crown jewels collection after breaking into a gallery soon after the museum opened.
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The thieves fled on scooters and have yet to be caught.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.