The Louvre Museum in Paris immediately shut down following a heist this morning, around 09:30 local time (3:30 a.m. EST), just about half an hour after the museum opened to visitors. Authorities said that the thieves forcibly entered through the museum's upstairs window via an extendable ladder mounted into a type of mechanical lift that's common in Paris to take heavy furniture to the upper floors of the apartments. French authorities have also closed one major road along the riverbank.

The BBC reports that the mayor "can't confirm" if the ladder has been there for maintenance work or if the burglars brought it there to gain access to the museum, particularly to the Galerie d'Apollon, where the stolen "priceless" French jewelry was kept. This is the second-biggest museum heist over the

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