Family Of Murdered Texas Mason Suing Lodge For Negligence

[My Freemasonry]

Brother Robert Wise, 55, was killed in July after officer's installation
(Photos: McAllen Lodge 1110 Facebook page)
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by Christopher Hodapp

The family of a Texas Mason who was murdered outside of a Masonic hall following an officers' installation ceremony has just filed a civil lawsuit against McAllen Lodge 1110 alleging negligence.

Brother Robert Wise was shot and killed in the lodge parking lot the evening of July 10, 2023, allegedly by an anti-Mason named Julio Diaz, who actually shot a video of the murder as it happened and posted it to his social media page.

A story on the MyRGV.com website reads, in part:

The surviving family members of a McAllen Masonic Lodge member’s summer murder filed a lawsuit saying the organization should have known about what they say is growing anti-Masonic resentment across the country.​

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And Robert Wise’s wife and children said they should have known about 35-year-old Alamo resident Julio Diaz, who is accused of fatally shooting Wise, 55, and posting a video of the murder to social media.​

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His surviving family members filed a lawsuit against McAllen Masonic Lodge No. 1110 on Nov. 27, alleging their negligence killed Wise because they ignored what they call a national trend of vandalism and threats against Masons, and because they did not install a light and security camera system purchased in 2022 until after Wise’s murder.​

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They also allege that the organization failed to warn its members about Diaz, who was known to the organization, because Diaz allegedly committed an act of arson at a Weslaco Masonic Lodge, which the McAllen members frequented, according to the petition.​

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McAllen Masonic Lodge No. 1100 is located at 118 N. 11 Street.​

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Wise walked out of that building on July 10 after being a member for more than two years and after a ceremony where he was named a “Junior Deacon.”​

​

Police allege that’s when Diaz fatally shot him.​

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[snip]​

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Following Wise’s murder, on July 28 at the McAllen Lodge, McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez met with members and “stated the obvious.”​

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“At night, when one enters or exits the McAllen Lodge, the parking lot and surrounding area and the front of the building had no lighting. It was pitch black,” the petition stated. “The premises was unlit, unfenced, and completely unprotected from any trespasser at the time of Wise’s murder.​

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“The McAllen Lodge knew how vulnerable it and its members were, but did nothing.”​

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But even before this meeting, the petition says a popular blogger who writes about Masonic news, had been reporting that ever since the COVID lockdowns that “there has been an alarming increase throughout the U.S. and Canada in incidents of vandalism and arson against Masonic halls by admitted paranoid anti-Masonic extremists and conspiracists.”​

(NOTE: I believe this is in reference to stories appearing on this website, which in no way could have predicted – or prevented – what happened. - CLH)

Then, on Dec. 6, 2021, the McAllen Lodge was vandalized and the location “became emblematic of the national trend on a local level.”​

“Aware of the national trend and seeing it play out in their front yard, leaders of the McAllen Lodge pushed for the purchase of the light and camera system after this incident,” the petition stated. “Despite the full knowledge of the national and local trend of violence toward Masons, it took another act of vandalism in December of 2021 at the McAllen Lodge to prompt the purchase of a light and camera system.”​

That happened sometime in 2022 when the McAllen Lodge purchased a light and camera system for about $2,000, according to the lawsuit.​

“However, the light and camera system was not installed until months AFTER the murder of Robert Wise. In the wake of this security failure the criminal activity targeting the McAllen Lodge continued,” the lawsuit stated.​

(NOTE: I have no way of knowing the veracity of these claims, but early reports immediately following the murder stated there was surveillance footage of the lodge's parking lot that provided details to law enforcement. The petition goes on to make the bizarre claim that the lodge wasted money on an entertainment event that would have been far more responsibly spent on security systems, as though lights and cameras could have in any way dissuaded the murderer from his premeditated action. - CLH)

On March 30, 2022, someone vandalized the location with graffiti that read “Sorcery against the Holy spirit and the human race must all be stoned to death.”


After that happened, the person who was the third in command sent text messages to the top two people in charge and the petition said nothing was done.
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“Five months later, on September 15, 2022, the criminal struck again. The McAllen Lodge was vandalized, the front glass door smashed and fuel thrown into the building to start a fire,” the lawsuit stated.


After this incident, the petition said a high-ranking member on a state level sent out a message warning people to be vigilant and to secure the lodge building.
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“Both the McAllen Lodge and the Grand Lodge had actual knowledge of the national trend and the specific threats to the McAllen Lodge,” the lawsuit stated. “What happened to Robert Wise was completely foreseeable and yet no action was taken.”​

(NOTE: For decades, Masonic lodges have often received non-specific, threatening messages, accusing Masons of heresy, secret plotting, devil worship, mind control, and a raft of economic, political and religious conspiracies. Allegations like these date back as far as the early 1700s, and several states have reported numerous instances of finding anonymous warning letters plastered to lodge doors or stuck in mailboxes. It's infinitesimally rare for any actual harm or damage to come from these kinds of threats, but it's still unnerving to find them. Police won't act until an actual crime is committed, and judges often don't like sentencing obviously nutty people to jail time over their beliefs in conspiracies or overzealous religious beliefs. So what exactly is a lodge supposed to do when faced with these kinds of messages? – CLH)

The petition then cites two more arson attacks on Mason buildings on a national level and then another arson attack at the Llano Grande Masonic Lodge on Feb. 21 in Weslaco.​

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Julio Diaz remains held in the Hidalgo County
Adult Detention Center on an indictment charging ​

him with murder and arson. He has a $1 million ​

bond on the murder charge and a $5,000 bond​

on the arson charge.​

“This act should have prompted action. Julio Diaz, the alleged murderer of Robert Wise, videoed the Weslaco Lodge fire and uploaded it to his Instagram page,” the petition stated. “Now violence had a name and a face and it lived right next door. The McAllen Lodge routinely met at the Weslaco Lodge and Diaz knew it."​

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[snip]​

On Aug. 7, Masonic leadership finally ordered the McAllen Lodge closed permanently.​

“Too little … too late. Robert Wise was dead,” the lawsuit stated. ​

Read more at the myRGV.com website HERE.

Reviewing this long, sad story tonight, my heart ached once again for Brother Wise's grieving family. Understand that I am in no way making light of his family's grief and loss. But there's no way the lodge should be blamed for his murder. The arson fires, graffiti, online threats and other hate-filled actions of anti-Masons around the world that have been spotlighted by this blog are infuriating to all of us. But when you consider the tens of thousands of local Masonic halls around the globe that have NOT been attacked in any way, trying to predict and prevent every four-alarm lunatic's deranged attacks ahead of time isn't possible, or even feasible. All the lights and cameras in the world wouldn't have prevented this horrible act of hatred and extreme religious zealotry.

Moreover, suing the lodge won't bring Brother Wise back to life, nor will it do anything to prevent future anti-Masonic attacks on other Masons.

So why the lawsuit?

Many decades ago, my brother and I were ardent teenaged railfans, and we would travel far and wide to photograph and make audio recordings of trains. One particular trip, I had a new Super8 film camera with an especially wide-angle lens I wasn't quite used to yet. As a train came blasting out of a tunnel in rural Tennessee, I was crouched low on the ground capturing an incredibly dramatic angle of the action, while peering only through my viewfinder. My brother Mike suddenly realized with horror that I was mere inches from having my head ripped off by the locomotive's low-riding front step. He leapt over to me, reached down, grabbed me by the scruff of the neck, and hurled me out of its path at the very last second.

As we both lay on the ground gasping for breath, I wondered aloud if some slick lawyer might have talked our parents into suing the railroad, had I been decapitated by one of their trains, even if we were trespassing and I had clearly been a completely irresponsible moron.

"No," Mike said, rolling it over in his mind. "This railroad is declaring bankruptcy. You never sue anyone poor."

"Who would they sue then," I asked.

"Why, Eastman Kodak, of course," he replied. "Kodak manufactured the film that went into your camera, and you wouldn't have even been here if it weren't for that damned film. Definitely Kodak."

Continue reading...

 

[Glen Cook]

Murders don’t happen unless it’s dark. Everyone knows that.

 

[Spiro D'Estini]

We lost liquor as a thing because of frivolous lawsuits. Who are these wives? This is some sorry showing.

 

[Spiro D'Estini]

If that were my Lodge I would dig on the wife and the shooter and see if they are connected. Seems like a good way to off a spouse and get a payday. I would investigate whether the shooter was her dupe.

 

[Glen Cook]

We lost liquor as a thing because of frivolous lawsuits. Who are these wives? This is some sorry showing.

Who lost liquor as what thing?

What wives?

 

[Spiro D'Estini]

Who lost liquor as what thing?

What wives?

in NJ, it's a whole special thing just to have any liquor associated with any Lodge event of any kind, as if we are old Dry's a hundred years ago, because of a lawsuit from a wife whose husband was killed in a DUI, is what I was told.

so, these wives, that sue Lodges over personal tragedies. By who I mean, what is wrong with them and why is this a thing now?

 

[Glen Cook]

in NJ, it's a whole special thing just to have any liquor associated with any Lodge event of any kind, as if we are old Dry's a hundred years ago, because of a lawsuit from a wife whose husband was killed in a DUI, is what I was told.

so, these wives, that sue Lodges over personal tragedies. By who I mean, what is wrong with them and why is this a thing now?

So, the lodge didn’t “lose liquor,“ it just requires a license or server.

If it was a frivolous suit, policy wouldn‘t need to change. One suspects it wasn’t a frivolous suit, if such a suit even occurred.

What is wrong with those wives, other than now being widows, having their husbands unlawfully killed? Beats me. Probably those ungrateful hungry orphans causing the problem. So annoying.

It isn’t just now a thing that wives sue for people killing their husbands. Wrongful death and dram shop laws have been a thing since the mid-19th century.

 

[Glen Cook]

If that were my Lodge I would dig on the wife and the shooter and see if they are connected. Seems like a good way to off a spouse and get a payday. I would investigate whether the shooter was her dupe.

If you did that in a lodge you should expect masonic discipline, a protective order, joinder in the law suit as a defendant, an additional cause of action against the lodge, and possibly a criminal charge.

May I ask what you do for a living?

 

[Spiro D'Estini]

If you did that in a lodge you should expect masonic discipline, a protective order, joinder in the law suit as a defendant, an additional cause of action against the lodge, and possibly a criminal charge.

May I ask what you do for a living?

why would anyone object to investigating someone's murder? Your position is, we are supposed to hear this information and think of the shooter's interests and also accept uncritically that the widow is correct in shaking down the Lodge after-the-fact? Mason or not, the incident stinks and is obviously dubious enough that someone was murdered. What is masonic or even generally responsibly american/self-governing about going along in such a fashion?

 

[Spiro D'Estini]

So, the lodge didn’t “lose liquor,“ it just requires a license or server.

If it was a frivolous suit, policy wouldn‘t need to change. One suspects it wasn’t a frivolous suit, if such a suit even occurred.

What is wrong with those wives, other than now being widows, having their husbands unlawfully killed? Beats me. Probably those ungrateful hungry orphans causing the problem. So annoying.

It isn’t just now a thing that wives sue for people killing their husbands. Wrongful death and dram shop laws have been a thing since the mid-19th century.

I was under the impression that my Brothers are obliged to care for my widow in such an instance and that she is wrong to fear for things like feeding the children.

 

[Glen Cook]

why would anyone object to investigating someone's murder? Your position is, we are supposed to hear this information and think of the shooter's interests and also accept uncritically that the widow is correct in shaking down the Lodge after-the-fact? Mason or not, the incident stinks and is obviously dubious enough that someone was murdered. What is masonic or even generally responsibly american/self-governing about going along in such a fashion?

No, that is not my position. Investigation is the role of police, and insurance companies.

I don’t understand what is meant in the last sentence.

 

[Glen Cook]

I was under the impression that my Brothers are obliged to care for my widow in such an instance and that she is wrong to fear for things like feeding the children.

#sarcasm

 

[Spiro D'Estini]

No, that is not my position. Investigation is the role of police, and insurance companies.

I don’t understand what is meant in the last sentence.

I mean that you are adopting a posture of moral authority in your tone, by taking the position that any thoughts of suspicion or criticism are somehow a moral failing on my part, when in fact your argument to me seems oriental and credulous and unamerican. I doubt that even the average Texan is comfortable accepting the rulings of an insurance bureaucracy as opposed to their own open-source data collection and sniffing around, let alone ones who are oath-bound to a murdered man.

 

[Glen Cook]

“oriental and unamerican.”

Now that is a tone of moral authority.

You do get points for creativity, if not for an ad hominem response that fails to address the points made.

Shall we leave it there, or delve further into issues of morality? https://www.facebook.com/story.php?...J1MYt1KeuIEMhRlC78JfWte8ug4yATCx5Ho40Dz8&_rdr

 

[Spiro D'Estini]

“oriental and unamerican.”

Now that is a tone of moral authority.

You do get points for creativity, if not for an ad hominem response that fails to address the points made.

Shall we leave it there, or delve further into issues of morality? https://www.facebook.com/story.php?...J1MYt1KeuIEMhRlC78JfWte8ug4yATCx5Ho40Dz8&_rdr

I welcome all discussion of the idolatrous marriage of morality to submission to government power.

 

[Bloke]

I was under the impression that my Brothers are obliged to care for my widow in such an instance and that she is wrong to fear for things like feeding the children.

This law suit is so sad and I feel for what the lodge feels and what our departed Bro thinks.

That said, I feel for the family, sounds like they are looking for blame.

If they have a financial need... we'll your comment is a good reminder. We have a brother get stranded interstate over Christmas with an illness while on holiday. An extended stay was not what was expected and a financial burden. His daughter got a GoFund me going to help his wife and the Freemason with accommodation and expenses. She requested $5K I think. We verified it and she had to turn it off at $15,045 being raised in a few days.

If this act of violence has left dependents in distress, perhaps the same should be done for them. In the first instance, I might even be tempted to fund legal fees for the lodge, with any surplus not spent going to legal fees then going to the dependents. it should be verified and then put somewhere like Freemasons For Dummies @Chris H (who I don't think visits here). It would be a shame to assist the family only to see them send our Deceased Brother Lodge go broke and fold or one of the volunteer officers of the lodge suffering because of the family taking legal action in their grief.

I would definitely donate to a verified campaign.

 

[Glen Cook]

Insurance cover should be in place to both defend and indemnify the lodge.

This law suit is so sad and I feel for what the lodge feels and what our departed Bro thinks.

That said, I feel for the family, sounds like they are looking for blame.

If they have a financial need... we'll your comment is a good reminder. We have a brother get stranded interstate over Christmas with an illness while on holiday. An extended stay was not what was expected and a financial burden. His daughter got a GoFund me going to help his wife and the Freemason with accommodation and expenses. She requested $5K I think. We verified it and she had to turn it off at $15,045 being raised in a few days.

If this act of violence has left dependents in distress, perhaps the same should be done for them. In the first instance, I might even be tempted to fund legal fees for the lodge, with any surplus not spent going to legal fees then going to the dependents. it should be verified and then put somewhere like Freemasons For Dummies @Chris H (who I don't think visits here). It would be a shame to assist the family only to see them send our Deceased Brother Lodge go broke and fold or one of the volunteer officers of the lodge suffering because of the family taking legal action in their grief.

I would definitely donate to a verified campaign.

 

[Winter]

Just one more in the ever growing number of lawsuits that go after one of the victims, in this case, the Lodge that lost a Brother, instead of who is actually at fault. We have a virtually nationwide epidemic of undiagnosed and untreated mental illness that everyone knows exists but very little ever actually gets done to fix. Much easier to blame whatever tool they used when their condition finally bubbles over into taking the lives of whatever group they are fixated on in their mind. And in virtually every case, the subject was known to someone prior as a potential harm to others and if anything was done, it always ends up, sadly, not being enough. So now this Lodge will be painted as the bad guys for not making their Lodge an armed keep because just one more unstable individual who didn't get the help they needed decided to take action.

How many people off their meds do we deal with in various Masonic discussion groups on a regular basis? And how much do we think about them after they eventually get booted from our spaces? I don't know what the answer is, but as an American Jew that is very aware of rising anti Semitism, I know that my security is my responsibility and it is up to me to take it seriously. I have to walk past armed police officers to go attend Shabbat services on Friday evening. This is just normal and has been for some while, even in the best of times (these aren't, we just had a couple bomb threats recently) That's great while I am there, but I know that once I leave shul, I need to be conscious of my surroundings and have a plan if anything should happen. Rule number one is always : Nobody is coming. Expect to self rescue. Instead of rehashing MSA Short Talk bulletins at Lodge, maybe a Saturday afternoon or two where a personal security expert or local law enforcement speaks to the Brothers about how they be safer as they go about their daily lives.

I think I wandered off the track a bit on my rant but this lawsuit bothers me, maybe more than it should. I don't want to malign the family that brought it against the Lodge, but I can very much believe that there is a lawyer rubbing their hands standing behind them. Our overly litigious society always fires me up.

 

[Bloke]

Insurance cover should be in place to both defend and indemnify the lodge.

For sure and I certainly hope adequate coverage is in place, but insurance for the organization of Masonry not for the dependents of a murdered Freemason.

We raise and give money all the time for people who really account as strangers, surely a Widow and any potential Dependents should attract some special consideration from Freemasons ? It attracts special consideration from me.... it is why we threw the hat around for a Widow and Child of a Freemason I'd never met who was killed in the 2023 Turkish/Syria Earthquakes. We became aware of him here in Melbourne Australia and raised money for them and sent it via a Turkish Bro here and a Turkish Bro in Turkey.. (GL Turkey did not accept foreign donations at the time, probably still does not). Never met him, I still don't even know their names, but doing something tangible in that instance was within our cable tows.

I would have expected the GM of the jurisdiction and/or someone else where the deceased Bro was killed to lead the charge on that... but also I fully acknowledge I don't know all the facts and I would only be moved to give money to someone actually in financial rather that just emotional distress. But even if just emotional, I would expect some positive and supportive action from Freemasons for the Family. Again, I say, I don't know all the facts though..

And I pause to wonder if the above becomes evidentiary. And it should be.

I agree with Winter, all individuals safely on the street against extraordinary but potential threat is our own responsibly because it is not practicable to give every person who is potentially at risk an escort of multiple chaperones, because every single person in the world is at potential at risk at some point. I also agree with Winter, this is likely a case of one of the victims of the crime being sued.... but the whole case might not be about money but emotional loss...