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“Our city is hurting,” Karen D. Camper, a state lawmaker representing Memphis, said in a statement.

“There is a long road ahead and much work ahead for us to do in order to begin to heal our city,” said Ms. Camper, the Democratic leader in the State House of Representatives. “And we will have those policy discussions.”

The violence has invigorated debates over residency rules for the Police Department, with some pushing for them to be loosened considering the vacancies on the force. Others also expressed outrage over Mr. Kelly’s release from prison earlier this year.

Mr. Kelly, 19, had been charged in 2020 with attempted first-degree murder, possession of a firearm and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon. Mayor Strickland said Mr. Kelly had been sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to a lesser charge, aggravated assault, but had been released in March after serving 11 months.

In a post on Twitter, Mr. Carlisle said that he had seen and heard lots of chatter from people saying the time had come to leave the city, that their angst and anger over the city’s climate were nearing a breaking point. “I’ll never tell anyone how to feel,” he wrote. “But I want you to stay.”

He said that Memphis was not alone, as other American cities also wrestle with increases in crime. In 2020, Memphis was one of several cities — along with Kansas City, Mo.; Cleveland; and Detroit — chosen by the administration of former President Donald J. Trump for infusions of federal law enforcement officers.

Still, Mr. Carlisle acknowledged the gravity of what his city was confronting. The turmoil over crime was especially clear as the rampage unfolded on Wednesday night, as he saw the alerts and was bombarded by text messages from scared residents.