Squirrels have a safe haven at my place with food and apples but my Nextdoor neighbor likes to shoot them with a pellet gun and let the dog chase them. i sometimes see my little friends with a PI-Ya on their body from that pellet gun…That's what I think also.
Although, it seems about every 2 years I get about 3 dead squirrels.
All 'look' healthy and like they just dropped out of a tree. Weird.
Someone near by feeds them peanuts and someone else poisons them? dunno