Parents arrested after their four-year-old son finds the couple's well-hidden gun and manages to shoot off his left ring finger

A Lake County couple is behind bars after a 4-year-old child in their home shot himself in the hand Sunday morning.

Lake deputy sheriffs encountered the child at 9:10 a.m. Sunday in the emergency room of Florida Hospital Waterman in Tavares. The 4-year-old had shot off part of his left ring finger with a .40-caliber handgun that was kept in a couch at his home in Altoona, according to a sheriff's report.

The child was later taken to Florida Hospital South in Orlando, where his entire finger was removed. He was taken into emergency custody by the state Department of Children and Families.

"The incident, in addition to other concerns, led to the boy's removal," according to a statement from spokeswoman Carrie Hoeppner. She said child-protection officials expect the boy to be be released from the hospital Tuesday and placed with a foster parent while he recovers.

Deputies arrested Donald Greeson, 40, and Tracy Greeson, 34, after searching their home and finding marijuana, a bong pipe, scales and pills within the child's reach. It also appeared that the child slept on the floor in the same bedroom where the pills were kept. The child told deputies he took the gun from the couch — where he'd seen someone place it the night before — and fired.

Donald Greeson, a convicted felon, initially told deputies he'd left the gun on top of an entertainment center in the living room, but later admitted to putting it in the corner of the sofa the night before. Greeson also admitted to smoking marijuana, taking prescription pills and using meth as recently as two days before the shooting. He was charged with child neglect, unsafe storage of storage of a firearm and other drug and firearm charges. Tracy Greeson was charged with child neglect.

The two are being held in the Lake County Jail.