In the summer evening of July 10, 2023, Robert Wise, a 55-year-old man, was leaving the McAllen Masonic Lodge in McAllen, Texas, after attending the annual officer installation ceremony. His family had been with him at the event but had departed separately. As Wise approached his pickup truck, he was confronted by a man who had been lying in wait.
The assailant, later identified as 35-year-old Julio Diaz of Alamo, was armed with a handgun.
In a chilling act, Diaz allegedly proceeded to shoot Wise multiple times in the face, all while recording the brutal attack with an electronic device in his other hand. The video of the murder was then uploaded to the shooter's Instagram account. Surveillance footage from the scene captured Diaz arriving in a black Chevrolet Blazer and approaching Wise.
Following the shooting, a friend of Diaz, who had received messages from him about the incident, contacted the McAllen Police Department and provided screenshots of their exchanges. This tip led to Diaz's arrest the following day, on July 11. Diaz was subsequently indicted by a Hidalgo County grand jury on September 13, 2023, for the murder of Robert Wise. He has remained in the county jail on a $1 million bond.
The investigation revealed that Diaz had been targeting Freemasons for months, harboring a deep-seated animosity towards the organization. It is believed that conspiracy theories surrounding Masonry may have fueled his actions. Prior to the murder, Diaz had allegedly been involved in other acts of violence against Masonic lodges, including attempting to set fire to the McAllen lodge and another in Weslaco. In the months leading up to the attack, he had posted numerous paranoid threats and rants against Masons on his social media pages. The family of Robert Wise later filed a lawsuit against the McAllen lodge, alleging they were aware of the threats posed by Diaz and failed to provide adequate security. The lawsuit was reportedly settled in April 2025.
