EVERETT — An Everett man claimed he didn’t know one of his passengers was armed with a gun or that the man was going to shoot into a car full of people.

In less than 15 minutes, Dave Drewery’s whole life was changed because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, defense attorney Natalie Tarantino told jurors Thursday in closing arguments.

“The shooting was a crime of opportunity that Dave didn’t have anything to do with,” she said.

A Snohomish County jury didn’t agree. Jurors convicted Drewery of drive-by shooting for gunfire March 15 in central Everett. A BMW was struck five times at close range. No one was seriously hurt.

The jury deliberated for about four hours.

Drewery’s shoulders slumped and he held his head in his hands after the verdict was read. He doesn’t have any criminal history. He’s facing up to 20 months in prison.

Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Andrew Alsdorf alleged that Drewery was an accomplice in the shooting. He drove slowly by the victims’ car, evidence he was helping the shooter carry out his plan, Alsdorf argued.

He also urged jurors to consider how the defendant and his front passenger flashed “gang signs” at the victims just prior to the shooting. Those hand gestures encouraged the shooter’s behavior, Alsdorf said.

Drewery, 22, didn’t deny he was behind the wheel, but argued that he didn’t know the shooter or the man’s plans for violence. The shooter, he said, came with a friend of his.

Everett police have not identified the trigger man. They arrested Drewery the night of the shooting. He cooperated with them, giving a lengthy statement.

Drewery’s buddy, Malik Fulson, was picked up a short time later. He also is charged with drive-by shooting. Police say he’s a known gang member. A third man was arrested in connection with the gunfire but a judge didn’t find probable cause to hold him. That case remains under review.

The victims testified that they felt like they were hunted down because of some perceived slight outside a marijuana shop on Evergreen Way. The victims didn’t know the suspects.

They claimed that Drewery followed them through residential streets until they came to the intersection at Madison Avenue and Olympic Drive. That’s where they say Drewery and his front passenger began flashing gang signs at them. The men, however, couldn’t replicate the hand gestures on the witness stand.

The BMW driver told jurors he’d seen gang signs before so he was confident that’s what Drewery and the other man were doing.

Drewery said he wasn’t making gang signs. He said he was motioning for the BMW driver to move along. The sports car was stopped at the intersection and wasn’t moving. Neighbors testified that the BMW had been stopped for some time before the defendant’s car pulled up alongside it.

Drewery’s car slowly rolled by toward the intersection. In a flash, the BMW’s back passenger window was shattered by a bullet. The driver and his passengers ducked for cover and two more shots hit the driver’s side door. A fourth shot hit the fender and a fifth shattered the windshield.

“We went down. The bullets went down,” the BMW driver testified. “He was aiming right at us.”

Drewery’s car sped off toward Evergreen Way. The victims followed after them. Drewery got off the busy thoroughfare and headed for a residential area. He crashed into a curb, blowing out a tire. His passengers fled the car and Drewery headed south on Evergreen.

He pulled into a fast food restaurant, where he got out of the car and walked toward the victims.

Tarantino argued that if her client was trying to escape into the night he wouldn’t have hopped on one of the city’s busiest streets, back toward the shooting scene, and driven like a “nut,” attracting all kinds of attention. He wouldn’t have approached the victims in the parking lot, she said.

“He’s not trying to escape. He’s trying to explain,” she said.

Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.