''We knew they had food stored inside,'' Mayor Hackett said. ''It was there because they expected the world to end and had it for their ritual. You have this man calling himself the black Jesus and the people in the house with him who thought they were his disciples.''

The assault on the three-bedroom house in the Hollywood section of north Memphis came at 3 A.M. after the police became convinced that Mr. Sanders would not negotiate. A command post had been set up at Shannon Elementary School across the street from the house.

After the assault, Mr. Sanders's wife, Dorothy, was led from the schoolhouse, screaming: ''Oh, my son! Oh, my son! Why did they have to kill my son? Oh, my husband!'' Assault on House Described

In describing the assault, Mr. Holt said members of the police tactical squad ''were fired on as they entered the living room of the house.''

''Gunfire was returned by the tactical squad officers.'' he went on. ''The battered body of the police officer was found just inside the front door. His hands were cuffed behind his back. There were indications he had been dead for a number of hours.

''As the tactical squad members proceeded through the house, they were again met with gunfire. As they reached a second room gunfire was returned.''

Black leaders in Memphis, where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, expressed sorrow over the incident. Councilman J.O. Patterson, a former State Senator and unsuccessful candidate for Mayor, was at the scene and said he thought the police acted in a ''professional'' manner.

''I'm saddened by the whole thing,'' he said. ''I hate to see any situation arrive in a city where we have to be confronted with this kind of decision. I just pray for the family of the officer and the families of the people in the house.''