There’s a photo of Sanchez Villalba at Disneyworld in Florida with his family. They’re posing with Star Wars villain Darth Vader, his young kids wrapped around their dad’s legs.

The tall, broad-shouldered dad is almost protecting them from this force of evil.

“His pride and joy was his children,” Sandra Frausto Reyna, Sanchez Villalba’s wife of 18 years, told KUOW.

“I’m devastated. Every day is harder — just to think about the future without him is hard, especially for my children.”

They had three kids: two daughters, ages 16 and 7, and a son, who is 11.

Sanchez Villalba framed houses for a living, working long, hard days on construction sites. But after work, Frausto Reyna said he always had time for his kids.

“My son would meet him at the door and, ‘Dad, let’s play, let’s kick the ball.’ And Carlos would say, ‘Yeah let me take off my shoes.’ He would change his boots into his tennis shoes and kick the ball with his son,” Frausto Reyna said. “Never said no, never said ‘I’m tired,’ never said ‘later.’ It was always a yes.”

Sanchez Villalba was from Mexico, and moved to Washington about 20 years ago.

Frausto Reyna said he loved to travel. He took the family on one big trip every year, showing them the world beyond Yelm, where they live.

“We liked to go to Lake Tahoe a lot, you know, he would take his boat,” she said, “Mexico to visit his family, Colorado. He liked to see new places.”

Shannon McIntyre, who worked with Sanchez Villalba on homebuilding, said he was an essential part of the team who framed the company’s last three houses before he died.

“Carlos was a framer who you could call and he would answer on the weekends,” McIntyre wrote on Facebook. “Whenever you needed something, he went above and beyond.”

Friends of Sanchez Villalba said he was a funny guy with a quick sense of humor.

“He was always willing to help no matter what it was,” said Tommy Evans, who called Sanchez Villalba one of his best friends. “The nicest guy I’ve ever met.”

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He fished, hunted, and was a big foodie. That’s what took them to the Bite of Seattle last month.

Frausto Reyna said they’ve gone to the festival before, and this year, they decided to go on a whim — a Sunday trip for the five of them to be together.

“Like, ‘OK, yeah, let’s take the trip to Seattle.’ You know, there’s going to be a lot of food. It’s a family thing,” she said. “So, you know, why not?”

Sanchez Villalba, always looking for new foods to try, had some vendors in mind.

“Mexican style seafood, cocteles, and shrimp and octopus and a whole bunch of stuff,” Frausto Reyna said. “That was kind of his main reason of going, because he wanted seafood.”

The family was standing in line to order food when they first heard gunshots.

They all turned and ran, Frausto Reyna said.

Sanchez Villalba grabbed their older daughter, who is in a wheelchair because of a disability.

“He was trying to get away with his daughter,” Frausto Reyna said — once again, protecting his children.

Sanchez Villalba was shot in the chest and died at Seattle Center.

Seattle police say the shooting may have been gang related. And it left several innocent bystanders among the victims. Two other people were also killed, and multiple others injured.

“Wrong place at the wrong time,” Frausto Reyna said.

Now, she’s trying to raise her children without her husband.

“I stay strong for my kids,” Frausto Reyna said.

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The family held a memorial service for Sanchez Villalba about two weeks after the July 26 shooting.

At the memorial service, she was surrounded by friends, family, and Sanchez Villalba’s co-workers. Many brought coolers full of homemade tamales. Sanchez Villalba’s huge pickup truck, with fish stickers in the back window, was parked out front.

They held a rosary service by his open casket and a Catholic priest gave a prayer with Frausto Reyna by his side.

During the prayer, she looked down at 44-year-old Sanchez Villalba — the dad that took his kids on adventures, out to ice cream, and kicked the ball in the yard.

“He was just amazing,” she said. ”I don’t know why all the people that are amazing are the ones that go first.”

Casey Martin is a reporter with KUOW. This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.

It is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit our journalism partnerships page.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/08/15/seattle-center-dad-laid-to-rest/