A Duluth man arrested last week is accused of shooting the wrong person in a hunt for a rival, then returning to execute his intended target the next day, according to charging documents and courtroom statements. Prosecutors say 32-year-old Branden Russell King killed 35-year-old Chazz Toney just after midnight on Oct. 10, 2025, one day after a separate victim was shot and survived.
Authorities say the case shows a deliberate search that spanned at least 24 hours and two crime scenes a few blocks apart. Investigators linked both shootings through witness accounts, surveillance video and ballistics indicating the same 9 mm handgun was used. King, arrested Jan. 8, faces counts of intentional second-degree murder in Toney’s death and second-degree assault in the earlier shooting. A judge has set unconditional bail at $1 million. Prosecutors told the court they may seek a grand jury indictment for premeditated first-degree murder as the evidence is presented.
Police and prosecutors outlined the chronology in recent filings. On Oct. 9, shortly before 1 a.m., a 47-year-old man walking near Third Avenue East and Sixth Street was shot in the chest and survived; witnesses later told investigators King admitted he “shot the wrong guy.” Court records say King had been “on the hunt” for Toney, known by the nickname “Cash,” asking around the Central Hillside neighborhood about his whereabouts. Hours later, just after 12:15 a.m. on Oct. 10, gunfire rang out outside an apartment at 209 W. Third St. Responding officers found Toney with a fatal head wound. A county prosecutor said Toney still held his phone and keys, a cigarette in his mouth, when he was found. Surveillance footage from a nearby service center captured a man prosecutors identify as King in the alley before the killing, and witnesses reported seeing him near the body moments afterward. “In trying to track down the victim, he accidentally shot the wrong guy and then found the actual, intended victim the next day and ended up killing him,” St. Louis County prosecutor Vicky Wanta said in court.
Investigators said two 9 mm shell casings were recovered by Toney’s body, and a forensic comparison suggested the weapon matched evidence from the previous day’s shooting. The earlier victim, identified in search warrants as Waisu W. Moore, told police an unknown man approached, made a remark about drugs and opened fire; Moore said he returned fire and was struck three times, suffering a broken clavicle. The complaint indicates witnesses had seen King in the area before both shootings and that he displayed a small handgun with a red laser during an inquiry about Toney. A woman inside the West Third Street apartment told detectives King returned to the building twice, masked and asking after Toney, and lingered near the porch in the hours leading up to the homicide. Officials have not publicly alleged a precise motive but said the case has ties to local drug activity under investigation.
Records show Duluth police arrested King on Jan. 8 after developing him as a suspect from neighborhood canvassing, video review and statements. He was booked into the St. Louis County Jail and brought before Judge Shawn Pearson, who granted the prosecution’s bail request, citing danger to the public and flight risk. The murder charge carries a possible 40-year sentence; if a grand jury returns a first-degree indictment, a conviction would mandate life without parole. King also faces a separate second-degree assault count in the Oct. 9 attack. In court, prosecutors emphasized the sequential nature of the two shootings and the assertion that King acknowledged missing his target the first night.
Duluth police first identified Toney as the victim days after the killing and asked residents for exterior video. The Central Hillside neighborhood, a dense grid above downtown, has alleys that thread behind older apartment buildings and service centers; officers said a camera behind one such property captured a figure moving toward the crime scene around 11:45 p.m. on Oct. 9. Toney was pronounced dead just after officers and medics arrived in the first minutes of Oct. 10. The city recorded five homicides in 2025, three involving gunfire, with Toney’s case the only one that did not initially produce an arrest, according to local tallies cited in court coverage.
In addition to the homicide and assault counts, court records summarize King’s prior convictions, including felony drug possession and receiving stolen property, as well as arrests for fleeing police, escape from a regional corrections facility and providing a false name. Prosecutors said he was already on probation last summer after a domestic abuse no-contact order violation and now faces new gross misdemeanor domestic violence counts tied to an unrelated Oct. 10 incident captured on video downtown. The court docket shows a next appearance in the murder case set for Jan. 26.
What happens from here follows a familiar path in Minnesota homicide cases. Prosecutors can proceed on the second-degree charge while continuing to gather physical evidence and witness statements, or convene a grand jury to consider premeditation. Defense counsel may challenge identification, surveillance interpretation or the ballistics conclusions, and can seek to suppress statements attributed to King. For now, investigators say they are still tracking the firearm’s origin; no recovery has been announced. Authorities have not released additional lab reports beyond the casing comparison summaries referenced in the complaint.
Neighbors described a tense autumn in the blocks around West Third Street and 2nd Avenue West as police searched for leads. A woman who said she knew Toney from the building recalled hearing shots and seeing people run to the porch. “It was quiet, then screaming,” she said. “Later there were just lights everywhere.” Another resident, who asked not to be named, said officers returned multiple times to request camera access from garages and back doors facing the alley. The apartment sits behind a service center and near social-service hubs that draw steady foot traffic at night, residents said.
As of Wednesday, King remained jailed on the murder and assault charges with the $1 million unconditional bail in place. Prosecutors said they would update the court on any grand jury plans at the next hearing on Jan. 26. Police said additional details, including extended surveillance clips and supplemental forensic reports, would be added to the case file as they are processed. Court officials did not immediately list a trial date.
Author note: Last updated January 14, 2026.