CLEVELAND — A 77-year-old church deacon is recovering after a violent beating inside Greater Abyssinia Baptist Church, an attack that has shaken a Cleveland congregation and sparked urgent calls for respect and change as members gather one month after the incident.
Deacon Ron Kisner, a longtime leader at the church in Cleveland’s Glenville neighborhood, was seriously injured after intervening in an escalating situation involving a man harassing women outside the building, according to church leaders and police. The alleged attacker, identified as 33-year-old Anthony Elijah Malcolm Primm Mango, remains in custody.
Church leaders say Mango was harassing a woman of the congregation when Kisner stepped in, and the situation escalated quickly…