AN IRISH MAN has been shot dead at a restaurant in Florida.

Tom Walsh, 43, originally from Tipperary, was killed at the restaurant he managed in DeLand in the north of the state on Saturday night.

His body was found by an employee inside the Mainstreet Grill after what police believe may have been an attempted robbery, WNDB News reports.

The kitchen worker was cleaning the restaurant, and discovered Walsh in one of the “public areas” just after 11pm, police said.

“All the indicators were there that it could be a robbery,” assistant police chief Randel Henderson told the Daytona News-Journal. No suspect has yet been arrested over the killing.

Police notified Walsh’s relatives, who reportedly still live in Ireland.

Walsh, who had one daughter, had moved to Florida in 1995 after a period working at Disney World in Orlando, the West Volusia Beacon reports.

It added that he was “loved by Mainstreet Grill customers for his kindness and quick wit”.

A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs told TheJournal.ie that they were aware of the reports, but said Mr Walsh’s family had not contacted them for consular assistance.