Police tonight announced rape, robbery, kidnapping, attempted murder and burglary charges in connection with a Sunday night southwest Birmingham home invasion.

Earlier today, Tuscaloosa County Metro Homicide investigators announced charges against the same four teens in three weekend home invasions there. A fifth teen is charged in Tuscaloosa, and sought in the Birmingham case.

Those charged in both Birmingham and Tuscaloosa are: Gregory Stewart, 19; Khali Jones, 18; Cassius Lanier, 18 and Jonathan Davis, 19. Tyler Davis, 18, is charged in Tuscaloosa but is not yet in custody.

"Supposedly this is a ring that has been operating throughout this region,'' Birmingham Mayor William Bell said earlier today. The mayor didn't elaborate.

The ordeal in Birmingham began about 10 p.m. Sunday at a home on Steiner Avenue. A family member called police to say her sister and her cousin were being robbed. When officers arrived on the scene, three men were leaving out the back of the house. Birmingham police spokesman Lt. Sean Edwards said a shot was fired inside the home but no one was hit by gunfire. Details of the sexual assault weren't released.

Officers got into a chase with a white SUV that was reported stolen out of Tuscaloosa. That SUV, with North Carolina license plates, crashed into a home in the 1800 block of Jackson Avenue. The suspects bailed from the wrecked SUV and fled on foot.

Police set up a large perimeter near the Jackson Avenue location. Officers were stationed at multiple intersections to block traffic while police K-9 carried out a ground search. That search was called off just before 1:30 a.m. when police weren't able to find the suspects.

Just before 5 a.m., Edwards said, police received a call from just outside the previous search perimeter about a group of suspicious people in a car outside a home. The descriptions, he said, matched those of the Steiner Avenue incident. Police took the group into custody.

Shortly after that, there was another home invasion, that one in the 1800 block of Jackson Avenue where the Steiner Avenue suspects had bailed from the crashed SUV. At the Jackson Avenue home, 77-year-old Mary Finch told police a man knocked on her door, forced his way inside and hit her in the head.

He took her car keys, Edwards said, and tried to steal her car. When Finch's car wouldn't start, he went back into her home and ordered her to go to a neighbor's house and get him outside. The woman went to the home of her neighbor, 47-year-old Jeff Jackson - asking for help.

When Jackson went outside, he got into a struggle with the gunman, Edwards said. The suspect shot the victim in the leg and fled. Both the elderly woman and the shooting victim are expected to survive. Birmingham police haven't confirmed a link between the two Birmingham incidents, but there is a strong likelihood. Edwards said they are still looking for a suspect that could be the missing link.

The Birmingham charges are: Lanier, two counts of first-degree rape, attempted murder, kidnapping and robbery; Davis, two counts of first-degree robbery, kidnapping and first-degree burglary; Stewart, first-degree rape, two counts of first-degree robbery, attempted murder and kidnapping; Jones, hindering prosecution.

In Tuscaloosa, the teens are charged with two incidents in Northport and Tuscaloosa on Jan. 31, and one Feb. 1, according to Tuscaloosa County Metro Homicide Unit investigators.

Tuscaloosa County Metro Homicide investigators said the first incident was a reported burglary and robbery that happened about 8:45 p.m. Saturday in the 400 block of 39th Street in North Tuscaloosa County Metro Homicide investigators said the first incident was a reported burglary and robbery that happened about 8:45 p.m. Saturday in the 400 block of 39th Street in Northport's Pebble Creek neighborhood. Officials didn't release specifics, but a neighbor described a chilling attack on the 78-year-old homeowner.

A man entered the woman's home through an open garage door and an open kitchen. Soon, four others joined him. They pushed the woman down on her sofa and held pillows over her face so she couldn't see them, said a neighbor and close friend who asked not to be identified. They demanded guns and money, but the woman didn't have any guns.

She did give them a little bit of money she had stashed in her refrigerator. They ransacked her garden home, also taking a television, cell phone and iPad. While in the home, they fired shots into the sofa and the wall, but the woman was not injured. "She was afraid for her life,'' the neighbor said.

A reported burglary and kidnapping happened less than two hours later - at 10 p.m. - in the 700 block of East 47th Avenue in Tuscaloosa. The third incident was a reported burglary early Sunday morning - just after midnight - in the 100 block of Springbrook in Tuscaloosa.

Tuscaloosa Lt. Gary Hood say they may release additional information Wednesday regarding the incidents there.

Lanier, Stewart, Davis and Jones are being held in the Jefferson County Jail. Bond for Stewart and Lanier is set at more than $2.3 million. Bond for Davis is set at $500,000 and bond for Jones is $100,000.

The investigation is ongoing, and anyone with information is asked to call Birmingham police at 205-254-1764 or CrimeStoppers at 205-254-7777.

Updated at 9:57 a.m. to include bond amounts.