A 23-year-old New Mexico man accused recently of killing his friend has blamed “The Walking Dead” for his actions, police told a local television station.
Damon Perry and Christopher Paquin were binge-watching the popular TV show when Perry believed his friend was turning into a zombie and about to bite him, according to KOAT.
“The suspect alleges that his binge-watching of ‘The Walking Dead’ caused him to see his friend as turning into a zombie.” said Moses Marquez, a spokesman for the Grants Police Department.
Perry then allegedly began beating Paquin with a microwave and an electric guitar, and also stabbed him with a knife, the Albuquerque-area station reported.
“In my 13 years in doing this, that was the most brutal scene that I have ever seen,” Marquez told KOAT.
A cause of death was not yet known, and investigators were still working to determine the timeline of events.
“There are some things in this case that I don’t think we’ll ever know, like when the microwave was used, when the guitar was used, and when the knives came into play,” Marquez said, according to the station.
Both men had been drinking in the period leading up to Paquin’s death, Perry allegedly told police.
Officers had first responded to the apartment where the incident occurred after a 911 caller reported that a man was chasing a woman around the complex with a knife, according to KOAT. Two maintenance workers were able to tackle Perry and hold him down until police arrived.
Perry has been charged with an open count of murder, the station reported.