ORLANDO, Fla. -- The nephew of former Orange County Sheriff Kevin Beary is in critical condition after being wounded on Thursday in the mass shooting at Fort Hood.

Beary said that his nephew, Pat Ziglar, a noncommissioned officer who recently returned from Iraq, was shot multiple times, including in the head.

Beary said he was teaching a class when he received a phone call from a family member who told him the news.

"It's kind of like one of those middle-of-the-night calls you get when your deputy has been shot or wounded, it's the same kind of feeling," Beary said. "He's a veteran of Iraq, and just an outstanding young person who is representing the United States in the Army."

Beary said the family is trying to cope with the incident.

"It's gut-wrenching. It gets right to you and hurts the heart," Beary said.

Beary initially identified Ziglar as his cousin.

Beary's connection to the Fort Hood shootings is at least the second Florida link.

Roxanne Johnson, of Punta Gorda, said she was on the phone with her son, who is stationed at Fort Hood, when he was shot in the chest and leg.

"We were just joking around and I heard 'doosh, doosh, doosh,' in I said, 'What was that?'" Johnson said.

Johnson said her son is recovering after surgery.

"It's very hard. It's very hard," she said.

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan has been arrested in the mass shooting that left 13 people dead and 30 others injured.

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