HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. -- Extra security and counselors will be on hand at North Mecklenburg High School on Thursday after a teenager pointed a gun at two students on Wednesday.

Josh Cook, 16, pointed a handgun at two students on the campus Wednesday afternoon before shooting himself to death at a gas station on Statesville Road, Huntersville police said.

The teen's identity was released Wednesday night.

Cook was transported to Carolinas Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

Chief Phillip Potter said the boy was in the parking lot of the high school, which he attended, when he had a confrontation with his ex-girlfriend and two boys around 12:30 p.m.

Cook pointed a gun at the boys in front of eight to 10 witnesses and then left the parking lot in a pickup truck.

One of the boys told Channel 9 Eyewitness News that he was still shaken up hours after the incident.

The students alerted school law enforcement.

Police began searching for the vehicle and the teen, who was on the phone with an older sibling as he drove.

Potter said the boy's mother helped authorities locate her son at the gas station, but when police asked him to put down the handgun, he shot one round into his head.

During the search Alexander Middle School, Blythe Elementary School, North Mecklenburg High School and Lake Norman Charter School were all locked down.

Like many of their classmates, North Mecklenburg students Mack Carroll and Megan McFadden said they were frightened.

"There's a lot going on right now, people are starting to go crazy, it freaks you out a little," Carroll said.

Carroll was on his way to class when he says teachers rushed him and all other students into their classrooms.

"I didn't really know what was going on," he said.

Carroll didn't know it at the time, but he says one of his friends was confronted by the student with the gun.

Carroll says he and the other students were asked to stay away from the windows and keep the blinds closed.

During the lockdown, McFadden says she only thought of one thing.

"When you think about Virginia Tech, you think it can happen anywhere," she said.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools superintendent said the initial reports show everything went according to security plans that are in place.

Families in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district were to receive automated phone messages about the incident.

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