Teddy Edward Lee Jr. loved life and lived it to the fullest.

The 34-year-old Fultondale man, who starred in multiple episodes of TLC’s “My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding” more than a decade ago, was a charismatic husband, father, brother and son who always made his presence known.

“He could never walk into a room and blend,’’ said his sister, Helen Howell. “You could never forget him because he was the life of the party.”

“His laugh was infectious,’’ Howell said. “He was always playing jokes, always looking to get some kind of rise out of somebody but it was out of love.”

Lee, affectionately known as TJ, was shot to death alongside his wife, 33-year-old Brittney “Taylor” Brewer, nearly one week ago in east Birmingham.

The couple died in a hail of gunfire while inside a vehicle that was backed into a driveway in the 4900 block of 41st Street North.

“I don’t think my brother ever had an enemy,’’ Howell said. “That’s why it’s been so shocking that somebody would hate him enough to do what happened.”

Birmingham police on Thursday, Feb. 13, were called to the neighborhood after multiple shots were fired in the area.

Sgt. LaQuitta Wade said East Precinct officers responded to a call of shots fired and someone seeing “a victim hanging out of a vehicle.”

Residents heard gunfire and saw at least one of the victims slumped inside of the vehicle and called 911.

When officers arrived, they found Lee and Brewer unresponsive inside of a vehicle that was backed into a driveway. One of the vehicle’s doors was open.

Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service medics pronounced both dead on the scene at 8:12 p.m.

Demetrius Walton, 43, was taken into custody within a couple of hours in the 4900 block of 43rd Street North.

He is charged with capital murder and held without bond in the Jefferson County Jail.

Howell is the oldest, and Lee the second oldest, of 14 children in the blended family.

They were raised in the Rumney Chel culture, also known as English Travelers.

“That was something he was very proud of, he was very proud to be a gypsy,’’ Howell said. “There’s like a million of us.”

“From birth we were inseparable because we were 13 months apart,’’ Howell said. “I’m the older one but I always lived in his shadow. He’s the reason anybody ever knew who I was.”

Lee went to Fultondale High School, where he was the class clown, his sister said.

While she was timid and shy, Lee was anything but.

“I was quiet, calm, ‘let’s do the right thing,’ and he was like, ‘let’s be loud, proud, seen and make a scene.”

“He got me into things, and I got him out of things,’’ Howell said with a laugh. “I was his keeper.”

Howell said her brother genuinely cared about people.

“I remember my first break up in high school,’’ she said. “I cried on the way home and he rode with me because he didn’t want me driving by myself, and he cried with me.”

“He cried with people he didn’t even know,’’ she said. “He sat with strangers. He gave to the needy.”

“He was charming,’’ Howell said. “One thing I loved about him in our high school years was he treated everybody the same.”

“He never judged anybody, and he always kept me in check with my faith,’’ she said. “He would always tell me, ‘Don’t be judgmental. You’re no better than anybody else.’’’

‘The Teddy Experience’

Shortly after high school, the producers of “My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding” reached out to Lee for a role on the show, and he seized the moment.

“I’m telling you he was always involved in anything and everything,’’ Howell said.

Reality shows are about personality and drama, and Lee rose to the occasion.

In one episode, Lee’s pregnant girlfriend at the time was home while Lee was out partying with other gypsies, and one woman in particular.

“I guess the girls like me,’’ Lee said on an episode. “I’m not tooting my own horn, but toot toot.”

“I’m a good-looking guy, a sexually active person,’’ he said. “I like for women to have The Teddy Experience.”

“Out of all the people in the world,” Howell said, “it was no shock to anybody that he was on TV.”

Lee worked in the asphalt industry with his father and in carpeting with his stepfather.

Lee was the father of six children, including two with Brewer.

Brewer also had another child, and all of her children were adopted out through foster care. Lee’s other children live with their mothers.

“They’re all in stable homes,’’ Howell said.

Lee and Brewer met about eight years ago when she reached out to him via social media.

“He flew her to him in North Carolina and it was instant,’’ Howell said. “They never left each other’s side from the moment he flew her to North Carolina.”

“They lived their own life,’’ she said. “They were the life of the party together.”

“My gosh, he loved everybody,’’ she said.

“I can’t tell you how many girlfriends he had, and they all still love him. It doesn’t matter what he did. He was a ladies’ man.”

“They were never mad at him because that’s just who he was,’’ Howell said. “He had the biggest heart.”

Lee and Brewer, who was from Texas, lived in North Carolina before moving back to the Birmingham area.

“She came into the picture and took him into her world,’’ Howell said. “They just drifted around.”

‘They’re in a place of eternal love’

Howell was at work when she received word of the slayings of her brother and sister-in-law.

When she answered the call, it was the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office.

Deputy Coroner AJ Clifton asked Howell if she knew Brewer. Howell said yes, that was her sister-in-law, and then Clifton delivered the news.

“She told me there was a double homicide in Birmingham and they were looking for the next of kin,’’ Howell said.

“I froze,’’ she said. “You never prepare yourself for a call saying your sister-in-law and brother have been shot and they are dead. It was a feeling I can’t explain.”

“I immediately started screaming. I felt like I was in a dream,’’ Howell said. “My supervisor came out and was like, ‘Are you OK?’ I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t feel. I couldn’t think.”

Deputy Coroner Clifton, she said, handled a terrible task admirably, she said.

“That lady is exactly where she’s supposed to be doing exactly what she’s supposed to be doing,’’ Howell said. “She was so absolutely compassionate.”

“And then I knew it was my responsibility to relay this information as gracefully as possible to the rest of the family because TJ was so very loved by so many people,’’ Howell said. “We’re having to have two funerals in two different states.”

“One funeral will be held in Mississippi with all the Rumney Chels and then we’ll come back to Birmingham for all our American friends and family,’’ she said.

Because the criminal investigation is still ongoing, Howell said detectives have not released many specifics about what happened and why.

But she praised the Birmingham Police Department and the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office.

“All I can say is how absolutely blessed we are,’’ she said.

“There’s so many mothers and people in this world who don’t have closure and how fortunate we are to have the people who are responsible being held accountable.”

“The investigators are doing their very best,’’ she said. “They are elite.”

As the family moves forward with finalizing the funerals for Lee and Brewer, Howell said she wants her brother to be remembered for his love for others.

“His personality will echo in the hearts of many people forever,’’ she said. “He just had a timeless personality.”

“He made every woman, it didn’t matter who, what or where, he made all women feel good about themselves,’’ she said.

“There’s something about a man who shows no discrimination because he wanted all women to feel loved and beautiful. He had an unconditional love for everybody.”

Lee said Brewer had struggles and came from a painful background.

“He took on Taylor’s pain,’’ she said. “I truly believe that while Taylor’s life was taken, she experienced love in her life because she was with my brother and my brother never left her. My brother never gave up on her.”

“As much as we hated how his life was going, we had to look at the end purpose and that was he showed a woman who had never had genuine love,’’ Howell said.

“And now they’re in a place of eternal love.”