(Newser) – A New Mexico man watched so much of The Walking Dead—and drank so much malt liquor—that police say he became convinced his friend was a zombie and acted accordingly. Police say Damon Perry, 23, beat, kicked, and stabbed his friend Christopher Paquin, also 23, to death after the pair had binge-watched the series at a home in Prewitt last Thursday while drinking "multiple" 40-ounce bottles of malt liquor, NBC News reports. Perry—who told investigators that Paquin had turned into a zombie and tried to bite him—allegedly used a guitar and a microwave oven in the beating, then started chasing a neighbor after he was done with his friend.

After police received a 911 call about Perry chasing a woman with a knife, two maintenance men tackled him and held him down until officers arrived, KOAT reports. He was charged with murder. Lead detective Sgt. Moses Marquez tells the station that it's the most gruesome killing he's dealt with in his 13 years on the force. "There are some things in this case 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," he says. Marquez tells KOB that it appears Perry "genuinely felt that his friend was changing into a zombie due to his inebriated state." (There was a fatal shooting at a zombie-themed street festival in Florida recently.)

