HIGHLY doubtful.
http://rabies.emedtv.com/rabies/rabies-and-squirrels.html
As someone else wrote, they are ~very~ territorial and possessive and there was probably something visual or an odor about the women or child that it found “threatening”.
This deer made the mistake of encroaching upon this squirrel’s food source.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRBVh8ZPUyg
The “grunt” is a classic squirrel warning call.
Don’t have a clue what “set it off” but something about them did.
They are also scary smart.
A young one shows up in my maple trees in front of the picture window every morning at dawn with the sole purpose of intentionally playing in the branches and provoking my dogs into apoplectic fits.
It knows it’s untouchable and this is some sort of “game” to it.
If it hears the back door open, it vanishes up onto the roof of the house where the dogs can’t see it or get to it.
The Discovery Channel did have an hilarious episode about the near-impossibility of designing a squirrel-proof bird feeder.
Their ability to defeat any and all countermeasures was something to behold.