A sheriff says the teenagers abducted at gunpoint from a lovers' lane were minutes from death when they were rescued.

Kern County Sheriff Carl Sparks says he thinks the kidnapper was looking for a place in Southern California's high desert to kill and bury the girls.

Sparks told CNN's "Larry King Live" the suspect showed a gun when two deputies arrived, and said, "No way, no way." The deputies shot him seven times. The sheriff says the girls had been raped.

Television footage showed the sobbing girls being bandaged up for what appeared to be minor injuries. A spokesman for a Bakersfield hospital says the girls were alert in the emergency room.

The girls were abducted at gunpoint during the early morning hours Thursday in a remote area of Lancaster, Calif., and were rescued about 12 hours later about 85 miles away.

The suspect, Roy Ratliff of Rosamond, Calif., was shot dead after the car he was driving crashed near Lake Isabella, Calif., after a short pursuit by police, Assistant Los Angeles County Sheriff Larry Waldie said. Ratliff, who was shot trying to elude police on foot after the crash, was wanted on a $3 million warrant for a rape charge in Las Vegas.

An animal control officer near Lake Isabella saw a vehicle (pictured, above) fitting the description of one stolen at the time of the abduction and alerted police, who quickly tracked down the vehicle and pursued, Waldie said.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department officials say at the time of the abduction, the girls were with male companions in separate cars in a remote area near Lancaster that is known as a hangout for young people. The two groups apparently did not know each other. Ratliff (pictured, right) reportedly bound the two young men with duct tape.

The suspect also took one of the victim's vehicles -- a white 1980 Ford Bronco with the California license plate 1AIZ-962 -- before driving away with the girls. Ratliff was still driving the Bronco at the time of the police pursuit.

Sheriff's Sgt. Joe Efflandt said the man poured gasoline over one of the vehicles, apparently trying to torch it, but was unsuccessful.

Authorities say the man left behind a vehicle that was reported stolen in a carjacking Nevada. That vehicle was stolen July 18 in Las Vegas, and there was a similar suspect description.

Authorities had expanded their search for the girls to cover the entire southwestern United States.