IT’S one of the biggest cities in America.

But far from the safest, Chicago has an average of 56 people shot in the shadows of its bristling skyline and bold architecture every week.

The country’s third biggest city, which has a population of more than 2.7 million, has experienced its worst year on record in relation to gun violence.

There were 2937 shootings in Chicago, between January 1 and December 27 this year, compared to 2587 between January 1 and December 31 last year, according to recent crime figures.

That’s an average of more than eight shootings a day or one person shot every 2.8 hours.

However, most shootings happen on weekends.

It’s a far cry from the city’s previous claim to fame: Nearly 40 million people visit Chicago annually; the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan put the city on the international sporting map. It’s name has inspired hit songs and international musicals that require no other introduction than, Chicago; and Oprah Winfrey and her hugely successful talk show were based there, broadcasting around the world for 25 years.

But the city, located in Illinois, is now in the spotlight for far more sinister reasons, which have cast a dark shadow over its sparkling veneer.

According to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, gang members involved in drug trafficking and illegal gun sales have caused the city’s homicide rates to skyrocket by 21 per cent and gun violence to spiral out of control.

In September, an 11-month-old boy was wounded in a shooting that also killed his pregnant mother and his grandmother.

In the blink of an eye, two generations of the child’s family were wiped out.

It was one of many incidents which have seen children injured or killed by bullets in Chicago this year.

In June, Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy revealed police have confiscated more illegal guns in Chicago than Los Angeles and New York City combined in the first half of the year.

The debate over race and local policing has long been simmering in Chicago but has boiled over again after police shot another two African American people last week.

Friends and relatives of the two people fatally shot by police issued an emotional plea for justice Sunday, calling the incident the latest proof that the city’s officers are far too quick to use deadly force.

Family members held a press conference following Saturday’s police shootings of Bettie Jones, 55, a mother of five, and Quintonio LeGrier, a 19-year-old engineering student.

Both were shot and killed after police were called to a private residence in response to a call about a domestic dispute.

News reports said the teen struggled with mental health issues and had been threatening his father with a baseball bat.

A short time after arriving on the scene, police opened fire, striking LeGrier, who they said was charging down the stairs carrying the bat.

Jones, LeGrier’s downstairs neighbour, who opened the door for officers as they arrived, was also struck by a police bullet and died Saturday at the hospital.

Separately, police fatally shot another man within hours of the other two shootings, according to news reports, some of which said the man was armed but had dropped his weapon and had his arms raised when police opened fire.

Many, already reeling from other recent incidents in which police are said to have been too ready to pull the trigger on their service weapons, condemned the shooting.

“This needs to stop,” LeGrier’s mother Janet Cooksey told reporters Sunday.

“No mother should have to bury her child, especially under these circumstances. The police are supposed to serve and protect us,” Cooksey said through tears. “

Is it a badge to kill?”

She added, at the press conference attended by a couple dozen people, that her son was “a good child” and an honour student.

“Seven times my son was shot, once in the buttocks — that showed he was turning away,” said the grieving woman said.

“This needs to stop. No mother should have to bury her child.”

The shootings came as Chicago’s police were already under federal investigation over a video showing a white police officer shooting a black teen 16 times, with most of the gunshots fired as the boy was lying motionless on the ground.

The shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, which took place in 2014, triggered a federal civil rights probe into the police and calls in some corners for the resignation of the city’s mayor, Rahm Emanuel — a former top White House aide to President Barack Obama.

News reports said Rahm, at present, is on a family vacation in Cuba, but his office released a statement after this weekend’s shooting promising the incident would be investigated.

“Anytime an officer uses force the public deserves answers, and regardless of the circumstances, we all grieve anytime there is a loss of life in our city,” the statement read.

“All evidence will be shared with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office for additional review in the days ahead.”

Emanuel recently fired Chicago’s police chief and pledged the city’s “complete co-operation” with the federal probe into the actions of its embattled police force.

The police meanwhile, in a terse statement, expressed regret over the shooting of Jones, which they said was a tragic accident.

“The 55-year-old female victim was accidentally struck and tragically killed. The department extends its deepest condolences to the victim’s family and friends,” the police department said.

An earlier statement said after receiving the initial report of the domestic dispute, “officers were confronted by a combative subject resulting in the discharging of the officer’s weapon, fatally wounding two individuals”.

Police referred all questions to the Independent Police Review Authority, the agency that investigates possible police misconduct.

Police tactics and racism have been the subject of a national debate since protests erupted in Ferguson, Missouri, in mid-2014 over the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

On Sunday, interim IPRA chief Sharon Fairley told reporters that her investigators “went promptly” to the crime scenes to interview witnesses and collect evidence.

“Our objectives are to conduct thorough and timely investigations of each incident,” Fairley said, giving no additional information.