I think it's probably just CYA, that they're afraid of a VT-style shooter.
Post-VT, I could sort of see the uproar if it turns out some ammo had been found in (whatshizname? Cho?)'s wash a week before the shooting, and nobody did anything about it.
So the sensationalisim could also be to get the students thinking, "Hey, I did see so-n-so, that depressed always angry loner-guy doing his wash in there earlier... Campus police? Yeah it's probably nothing, but this one weird guy on my floor, he was doing his wash in there..."
And then they interview him, and find his gun and his notebooks planning the massacre. Tragedy averted.
I'm not saying I agree, but trying to get inside the school administrations heads, that's what's probably going on.