A New Mexico man who had been watching the hit TV series The Walking Dead beat his friend to death because he believed the victim was turning into a zombie, police said on Monday.

Damon Perry, 23, of Prewitt, New Mexico, is charged with murder after allegedly attacking Christopher Paquin, also 23, with kicks, punches, sharp-edged objects and items including a guitar and a microwave oven, police said.

The pair had been binge-watching episodes of the popular AMC show, which centers on a zombie apocalypse, according to police in the small town of Grants, about 80 miles (130 km) west of Albuquerque.

Officers were called to an apartment there last Thursday afternoon after receiving reports that an intoxicated, knife-wielding man was chasing a woman, the police department said.

When they arrived, they found two maintenance workers pinning Perry to the ground, and then discovered Paquin’s body. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.

“Perry told investigators he had been drinking large amounts of alcohol when his friend began to change into a zombie,” the police department said in a statement.

Grants police detective Moses Marquez said the murder was one of the “weirdest and most gruesome” homicides he had known.

Perry is being held at the Cibola County detention center on $800,000 cash only bond, Marquez told Reuters.

Perry’s attorney could not immediately be reached for comment. A preliminary hearing in the case is set for 3 November.