CONCORD -- Erroneous reports of a custodian with a gun prompted a lockdown at Mt. Diablo High School on Tuesday that kept hundreds of students and teachers locked in their classrooms for two hours after school ended.

Interim Superintendent Dick Nicoll said police instructed school officials to lock classroom doors and keep students inside about 3 p.m. after several students reported seeing a male custodian with a gun. Despite the faulty information, Nicoll said the reaction was the right one.

"(The reports) were incorrect," Nicoll said. "Based on the information given to the (school) office, the police department said the lockdown was the appropriate action to take."

Nicoll said some students came running into the school office in a panic saying someone had a gun, and the principal decided to call the police. The custodian did not have a weapon, Nicoll said, and was not doing anything suspicious.

"We err on the side of caution," he said.

No one was allowed to leave campus until the lockdown was lifted about 5:30 p.m. No one was injured, Nicoll said. About 1,550 students attend the school on Grant Street, and about 80 teachers are on staff.

"The people on the intercom told us we would be waiting for 20 minutes, then 20 minutes turned into one hour, then one hour turned into two hours," said Jrina Sunga, 15, who was in her chemistry class when the lockdown began about 15 minutes before the final bell was about to ring.

Concord police Cpl. James Carroll said

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officers searched the campus and nearby areas for the suspect. A CHP fixed wing aircraft assisted in the search, and witnesses also reported seeing a helicopter.

At 5:15 p.m., several parents were waiting across the street from the school for their children to be let out. Julie Darms said she showed up to pick up her daughter, Leilah Hussain, at 3 p.m., then waited at a church nearby. She said she talked to her daughter by cell phone, and was frustrated at a lack of information from school officials.

"They should have let parents know at least what was going on," Darms said. "We didn't know if it was a hostage thing, because nobody was letting anybody know anything."

Students waiting in their classrooms said school officials didn't inform them of the reason for the lockdown, but "people were texting each other and Twittering" the news, said Ruth Vasquez, 15, who was in her English class when the lockdown started.

Senior Ken Hong, 18, said he was at first annoyed to be stuck in his science class, but then started getting nervous.

"After an hour, I was scared," he said. "Normally, lockdowns don't last that long."

No mention was made of the lockdown at a school board meeting Tuesday evening. Nicoll said he didn't report it to the board because he tries to focus on the positive.

"These things happen," he said.

He noted that there was also a fire at Sequoia MS and someone was shooting an air pellet gun at the district office.

"We can't report everything," he said.