MCKEESPORT — A man accused of taking 10 people hostage in a bank with a fake bomb taped to his chest was unemployed, recently lost his mother and had broken up with his girlfriend, police said.

"His mother died, his girlfriend PFA'd him," McKeesport police Chief Joseph Pero said, referring to a protection-from-abuse court order the ex-girlfriend recently obtained. "Basically, he didn't want to live. He didn't want to hurt nobody in the bank."

Charles Cottle, 38, of Coraopolis, is charged with 10 counts each of simple assault, terroristic threats and unlawful restraint for allegedly threatening the bank employees and patrons in the PNC Bank branch late Thursday afternoon.

He also is charged with threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction, causing or risking a catastrophe and possessing a facsimile weapon of mass destruction — two empty paint cans and some wires taped to his chest that were arranged to look like a bomb.

Cottle spoke to those in the bank about wanting to commit "suicide by cop," but Pero doubts Cottle intended to prompt police to use deadly force.

"Basically, he was asking for help, seeking attention," Pero said.

Pero said the threat-related charges are based on the fear induced in the victims, not whether Cottle had any intention of harming anyone.