What does "the untimely passing of the victims" mean?


"Let there be no mistake, Mr. Peterson wishes that he could have prevented the untimely passing of the seventeen victims on that day, and his heart goes out to the families of the victims in their time of need," DiRuzzo said.

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Hmm, it's sort of an empty statement, it's just pretend empathy. I find the usage of 'untimely' in reference to death pretty strange as well. But in that case, 'untimely passing' just means 'early deaths', as in suddenly dying or being killed before having really lived, before having reached an older age.