Damon Perry of Prewitt, New Mexico, beat his friend to death after binge-watching The Walking Dead, according to KOB 4 News. The drunken 23-year-old thought his friend Christopher Paquinn was turning into a zombie while trying to bite him, police say.
The victim was pronounced dead at age 23 on the scene. Perry allegedly hit him with a microwave and electric guitar, and kicked him repeatedly.
Police arrived at Damon’s apartment building after reports of a man running around threatening tenants with a knife. There they found the body of Christopher with a knife lodged in his skull. Damon had been subdued by two maintenance workers.
Perry was arrested and later claimed to police that Paquinn began to "change into a zombie" and tried to bite him. He attacked him as though he were an actual zombie, knowing from the show that to kill them, you must destroy their brain.
"If you've ever watched the show, you'd know that the only way to kill a zombie is to attack it in its head," Sgt. Moses Marquez, the lead detective on the case told KOB 4 News. "Well, when police arrived in this complex, there was a knife inside the victim's head."
Sgt. Marquez feels that Damon was acting out of genuine fear. “I do believe his story behind this is true,” Sgt. Marquez said to KOB 4 News.
“He genuinely felt that his friend was changing into a zombie due to his inebriated state. Our department is dealing with something that I have never seen or heard of in my entire 13 years here.”
Damon Perry is currently being held at the Cibola County Detention Center and being charged with an open count of murder.
The Walking Dead is an American horror drama television series developed by Frank Darabont, based on the comic book series of the same name by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard.
Andrew Lincoln plays the show's lead character, sheriff's deputy Rick Grimes, who awakens from a months-long coma to confront an post-apocalyptic world overrun by zombies.
