Taipei  - A Taiwanese man who killed a landlord and seriously injured the victim's wife and son claimed his deed was a copycat of the random killing plot of a Japanese comic book, police said Tuesday.

Huang Fu-kang, 35, was arrested Monday night by police at a hospital in Taipei for allegedly killing a man he randomly picked from a local apartment rental website, police said.

"Pretending that he wanted to rent an apartment, the suspect made an appointment with the 51-year-old victim Chien Tien-chi at the victim's empty house," a police spokesman said.

"The suspect first used a hammer to hit the head of the victim and then slashed the victim's throat and mouth with a sharp knife," a police spokesman said.

Huang then found the victim's identification card and home address, and went to the house to attack the wife and son, critically injuring them with knife cuts, the spokesman said.

The officer said the suspect, who was slightly wounded during a fight with the victim's son, went to the same hospital where the son was treated for his knife wounds. He was recognized by the son and was arrested immediately.

Huang later told police he had been jobless for more than a year, and had allegedly killed Chien because he learned from a Japanese comic book "Last Order" that random killing can dispel bad luck.

Police found a list of landlords the suspect copied from the rental website. Chien was the third person the suspect called as the first landlord did not answer the phone and the second did not want to rent the apartment to the suspect, police said. (dpa)