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Police: Billings standoff suspect had 'arsenal' before weekend arrest

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BILLINGS - A man threatened police with several high-powered weapons before he was arrested Sunday in the Billings Heights following a standoff, police said Tuesday.

Robert Janz, 44, was possibly having a mental-health episode that triggered his anti-government views and belief that the government was coming after his guns, according to police.

On Sunday morning, Billings police responded to a house on Solita Drive to reports that a man was walking around the neighborhood carrying a gun and asking neighbors to come outside of their homes.

When police arrived, the man- later identified as Janz- went into his house and took his wife and three children hostage, threatening police with several high-powered weapons that Police Chief Rich St. John described as an arsenal.

He was in a position to fire on officers, according to St. John.

Billings police SWAT officers entered the house, hit the man with a non-lethal bean bag shotgun and took him into custody.

St. John said over 30 weapons were taken from Janz's home.