Lawsuit settled between family of slain McAllen man, masonic lodge

Julio Diaz

A lawsuit filed by the family of a McAllen man shot and killed outside the local masonic lodge has been settled, ending a legal dispute between the victim’s family members and the lodge that they had accused of negligence.

On July 10, 2023, 55-year-old Robert Wise, who was a member of the McAllen Lodge No. 1110, located at 118 N. 11th St., was leaving a meeting at that location when 37-year-old Julio Diaz, an Alamo resident who had been threatening Freemasons for months, allegedly shot Wise multiple times.

Court records indicate the litigation was settled on April 25. The terms of the settlement aren’t immediately clear.

Among the allegations Wise’s family levied against the lodge, was the lack of lighting outside the lodge.

These concerns actually stemmed from Diaz’s targeting of Freemasons and the McAllen lodge. Diaz had been targeting them for about 22 months before Wise’s death. He had set the Llano Grande Lodge #1173 in Weslaco on fire and would leave graffiti on the walls and doors of the McAllen lodge, according to the lawsuit.

In addition, other lodges in the country had been targeted by other individuals causing local members to demand their leaders to act.

Leadership at the McAllen lodge ultimately bought lights and cameras that were requested but had yet to install them when Wise was killed.

Exhibit B in the lawsuit shows a March 20, 2022 act of vandalism at the McAllen Lodge where Robert Wise, 55, was shot and killed on July 10, 2023. (Hidalgo County court records)

On that fateful night, Wise’s family was also with him during the meeting, but left separately.

McAllen police said that video surveillance showed Diaz arriving at the location in black Chevrolet Blazer and approaching Wise as he was getting into his truck.

In the probable cause affidavit, authorities said surveillance footage further showed Diaz holding a handgun in one hand and an “electronic device in the other hand” in order to record himself shooting Wise several times and posting the video on his Instagram account.

Diaz was arrested the next day after a friend of his tipped off police.

He remains jailed on $1,005,000 in bonds and is scheduled for a trial Monday, court records show.

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