LOS ANGELES: Two people were shot on Thursday in a high school in California and a gunman was in custody, an official in the local sheriff's office told AFP.

“We have two victims and the shooter has been taken into custody,” the official said about the shooting at Taft Union High School in the town of Taft north of Los Angeles, declining to say if the victims were dead or injured.

The incident happened around 9:00 am (1700 GMT) and the suspect was taken into custody about 20 minutes later, according to the Los Angeles Times newspaper.

It cited the local ABC television news affiliate as saying they received phone calls from people hiding in closets inside the school, which was being evacuated and searched.

Taft is some 120 miles (190 kilometers) north of Los Angeles. No further details were immediately available.

The shooting comes weeks after the massacre of 26 people including 20 young children at a school in Newtown, Connecticut, which has revived America's perennial debate about gun control.