ALBUQUERQUE (New Mexico) • A 23-year-old father of two, who had been watching the hit TV series The Walking Dead, beat his friend to death because he allegedly believed the victim was turning into a zombie.

Police said Damon Perry, of Prewitt, New Mexico, had been charged with murder after allegedly attacking Mr Christopher Paquin, also 23, with kicks, punches, sharp-edged objects and items that included a guitar and a microwave oven, police said. He then went after other tenants in his apartment complex.

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

"I have never seen or heard anything like this," Grants Police Department Detective Moses Marquez said. "The scene was pretty gruesome and his confession was bizarre," he added. "He attributes this murder to him drinking way too much and binge-watching The Walking Dead."

Police had received reports that an intoxicated man was chasing a woman. When they arrived, they found two maintenance workers pinning Perry to the ground, and then discovered Mr Paquin's body.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE