The local sports reporters were shook up about it, and remarked on the man's untimely demise
The clue to this incongruous usage describing the death of an 87 year old man from an aneurysm is its source: "the local sports reporters".
Sports reporters write about athletic events and athletes for a living, and, when an athlete dies suddenly from an exotic condition like this, the death is certainly "untimely". Describing this particular death as "untimely" is just an example of hackneyed writing.
If this 87 year old man had died of the same condition at home instead of behind the wheel of a car wrapped around a tree, we would have read that he died "quietly at home", even if a sports reporter had written the story.
This man's death was sudden, but it certainly wasn't "untimely". "Untimely" means "before one's time", not "unexpected".
From an actuarial point of view, this man's death was both "timely" and "expected".
What was unexpected was the place where he landed moments after his death.
