California ? A student gunman held a high school drama class hostage Friday, firing shots and holding three of the students for more than an hour before police persuaded him to surrender, authorities said. No one was hurt.

Police would not say what the 17-year-old’s motive might have been, but several students said he was distraught over a breakup with his girlfriend the night before.

The gunman initially took about 30 students and a substitute teacher hostage in a band room at Las Plumas High School. He eventually released all of them except for three girls, said Capt. Jerry Smith of the Butte County Sheriff’s Department.

Turbo Her, an 18-year-old senior who was in the class, said other students initially thought it was a joke. “I said, ‘Oh no, this is a real gun,'” Her said. “The girls were crying and hysterical. He wanted to scare them, to let them know it’s real.”

One shot was fired into the ceiling, Her said. Authorities said at least two shots were fired from the .22-caliber handgun the boy was carrying.