New Mexico Man Kills to Keep Friend From Turning Into a Zombie

Part of the appeal of a good television show is its ability to draw the audience in, to make viewers feel they’re a part of the action. Who among us hasn’t imagined ourselves joking with the "Friends" gang in Central Perk? That immersion evidently takes on a different form when watching "The Walking Dead."

Two friends sitting around on a boring Thursday in Grants, New Mexico: "What do you wanna do?" one may have asked. "You ever heard of this zombie show?" the other could have responded.

From here, Christopher Paquin and Damon Perry began binge-watching AMC’s popular show, "The Walking Dead," which centers on a zombie apocalypse.

Local law enforcement were called to the apartment after receiving reports of a knife-wielding man, and entered to find a pair of maintenance workers subduing an intoxicated Perry. Paquin’s body was later found in the apartment and pronounced dead by emergency workers.

"Perry told investigators he had been drinking large amounts of alcohol when his friend began to 'change into a zombie,'" reads a statement from the police department. Perry elaborated, according to Reuters, saying that after Paquin started to bite him, Perry attacked with his feet, hands, a guitar, and a microwave.

Grants Police Detective Moses Marquez described the scene as one of the "weirdest and most gruesome" he had ever seen, according to Reuters.

Perry has been charged with murder, and is being held on an $800,000 bond.

The lesson? Network television may be dying, but we’re all going to miss those feel-good, primetime lineups.