GRANTS, New Mexico -- A murder suspect blamed the popular television show "The Walking Dead" for his violent and deadly action. Damon Perry told police he had binge-watched the zombie-themed show with a friend when he claimed he thought his friend was turning into a zombie, so he beat him to death.
In addition to punching and kicking his roommate, police said it also appeared as if Perry beat Christopher Paquin with an electric guitar and a microwave. He also stabbed him with a knife, police said.
"In my 13 years of doing this, that was the most brutal scene that I have ever seen," Grants Police Department spokesman Moses Marquez told KOAT. "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."
Will Chamberlain, who went to school with Perry, said called the crime "pretty crazy."
"I didn't think anybody would do something like that from watching The Walking Dead," Chamberlain said. "It's kind of sad to hear about, really that that's what our youth is coming to these days."
A neighbor called police on Perry when they saw him chasing a woman around the apartment complex while he held a knife. Two maintenance workers tackled Perry and held him down until police arrived.
"We do have to give those maintenance men the kudos that they deserve for putting their self in harm's way," Marquez said.
Perry told police both he and Paquin drank a lot of alcohol prior to Paquin's death.
